Ricciardo struggles to make up ground
MOTORSPORT: Daniel Ricciardo’s tough start to the F1 season has continued after finishing outside the top 10 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Ricciardo started the race in ninth place on the grid but was unable to make any ground on the field.
He finished the race in 12th spot, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking the victory.
It wasn’t without drama though after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s race came to an abrupt end on lap 23 following a loss of power.
Leclerc was leading at the time.
“It wasn’t a good race today. I’d love to find something positive, but it was just a struggle from the start,” Ricciardo said after the race. “I was slow, and I simply had a lot less grip than everyone else around me.
“With the three stops, we had four chances on different sets of tyres, but we didn’t have the pace on any of them.
“I’m not really sure why, to be honest, so we’ll try to have a look and understand it.
“Hopefully, we can get on top of it as the upgrades we brought were good.”
Ricciardo has one top 10 finish to his name this season, which came following a sixthplaced result at the Australian GP.
He and his McLaren team are now searching for answers after another disappointing showing.
“It’s one of those races that it was so slow that you kind of, nearly sounds bad to say, but you hope that something was wrong,” he said.
“You hope that we find something that is like, ‘Oh, that’s why’, because it’s probably more concerning if we don’t.
“It wasn’t like a tenth or two tenths (of a second) off. It felt like over a second at times.
“I don’t know that for a fact but I certainly saw the cars pass me and pull away very quickly.”