Daniel Ricciardo "still not quite there" in Hungary qualifying
Daniel Ricciardo was less than a tenth of a second out of the top ten in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix but still "a long way off" from where he had aimed to start Sunday's race.
Daniel Ricciardo could only manage eleventh in qualifying for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. (Motorsport Images/McLaren)
"That was really close to Q3," said the Australian, "but on the positive side, I’ll have free tyre choice tomorrow."
The McLaren driver lamented that his results in Hungary reflected his struggles across the season to find his feet in the new team.
"A lot of the time this year, when I’m trying to get those last few tenths out of it, it proves to be quite difficult and it’s still not quite there," he said.
"I thought the lap was decent but it’s still quite a long way off."
"So, we’ll try to learn from it and make up some places tomorrow."
"Hopefully everyone who starts on used tyres suffers and we can benefit from the free choice.”
Ricciardo had shown good form in Friday practice, but was unable to convert that into track position for qualifying - something noted by Team Principal Andreas Seidl.
"Daniel made good steps throughout the sessions here, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough to get through to Q3."
"This will be a challenge tomorrow on a track like this, where it’s difficult to overtake."
"On the positive side, we have free tyre choice tomorrow for the race start, which could help us to get back into the points."
Daniel Ricciardo says he is “still not quite there” after qualifying eleventh in Hungary. (Motorsport Images./McLaren)
Teammate Lando Norris qualified sixth.
"A decent day," said the Briton.
I felt it would be very tight to get into Q3, so I’m very happy with the pace."
"There was a small chance we could've been fourth if we'd done everything perfectly, so we need to analyse what we could've done better so we can maximise our potential next time."
"But still, I'm very happy with sixth and I think we can score some good points from there tomorrow."
