Daniel Ricciardo experienced another disappointment at the Saudi Arabian GP after finishing P13 at the season’s opening race in Bahrain. The Honey Badger, who aimed to start afresh in his career this year, ended P16 at the Jeddah track. Once again, his lackluster performance has earned him fans’ criticism and prompted their wrath on social media. However, now the Australian driver has emerged to dispel some gross misconceptions held by F1 fans.
According to Speedcafe, the 34-year-old stated after the race, “We see a few flaws, honestly, with the car, so we’ve got to get that fixed for the next one.” Earlier in the race, Ricciardo oversaw a hint of the old familiar when his young teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, overshadowed him.
Subsequently, neither the team nor the supporters could find an explanation for his VCARB-01’s lack of speed. However, after the race, some reason has surfaced.
Ricciardo lost a position at the start and subsequently dropped lower down the order because of the delayed pit stop under the safety car (for Lance Stroll). The VCARB team made a 41-second pit stop, forcing Ricciardo to drop four positions. Following that, the Honey Badger struggled to pass a sluggish Valtteri Bottas.
While many fans argue that Ricciardo’s spin in the closing laps of the race prevented him from having an impact, the slow pit stop was a big factor in undermining his hopes for the day. Nevertheless, even with all of his problems in Jeddah, Ricciardo still managed to run within seconds of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished P14.
How did Daniel Ricciardo feel when his car problems were impeding his progress?
There’s no doubt that Daniel Ricciardo would have preferred his time in Jeddah to be better than it was. The 34-year-old was five-tenths behind Yuki Tsunoda during the qualifying round on Friday. Eventually, the Australian’s luck ran out in the race when he was forced to make a sloppy pit stop. This stop put him in the back of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, who did a fantastic job of leading his team to its first points of the year.
In light of this, Ricciardo confessed that the problems he was dealing with got worse while he was trailing other drivers, making him feel ‘helpless.’ As quoted by Motorsportweek.com, the #3 driver said, “Yeah, just knowing that we don’t quite have underneath us what we should – that’s where you feel a little bit helpless.”
The Honey Badger did eventually admit that he was relieved to be back on the grid. He therefore doesn’t want to come out as being negative in any way because, in Ricciardo’s view, he isn’t in the same mindset as that of a couple of years ago.
