Daniel Ricciardo endured a challenging weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing 13th after struggling with tyre graining that hampered his race. The Visa Cash App RB F1 driver had hoped for a more competitive performance, but early struggles in qualifying and race day difficulties with his tyre strategy left him unable to push forward in the standings.
Ricciardo started the race on hard tyres, aiming to take advantage of the medium-tyre runners’ expected early wear. Initially, his plan seemed to be working. He caught up to some of the cars ahead, but soon faced problems of his own.
“Starting on the hard tyres, you always have the option to go long,” Ricciardo explained. “But I knew it was going to be a long afternoon when I had graining before the medium guys did.”
This problem only worsened for Ricciardo as the race progressed. Things had looked encouraging in the opening laps as he was right behind Ollie Bearman.
“I was right behind a few drivers, thinking I’d pass them easily, but as soon as I caught them, I started experiencing graining,” he said.
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“Even the medium tyre guys cleared me, and I was a couple of seconds slower per lap. We struggled with graining for at least ten laps, and it just kept getting worse and worse,” he admitted.
“I thought we’d have to pit, but the team said to keep going and try to adjust the balance. Then suddenly, I was a second quicker, half a second quicker—it was a crazy swing.”
Despite the improvement in pace later in the race, the damage had been done, and Ricciardo was already too far behind to make up significant positions.
“The swing was about four seconds, and I’ve had graining before, but nothing like that. It’s something we need to understand because that’s what took us out of the race.”
Reflecting on the race and the performance of his teammate, Ricciardo noted that Yuki Tsunoda, who also experienced issues, was forced to retire.
“I would’ve loved to see Yuki finish the race to gather more data. I’m curious if he would have experienced the same graining issues or if we could have learned something from his race.”
