Daniel Ricciardo entered the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with high hopes, aiming to build on his promising ninth-place finish in Austria. However, his weekend was marked by a series of setbacks that left him lamenting his uncompetitive performance across all conditions, ultimately finishing in 13th place.
The Australian driver’s troubles began in qualifying, where the team struggled to optimise his run plan in Q2, resulting in the slowest time of the session. This issue was compounded by an unscheduled engine change before the race, which forced Ricciardo to use an older, less powerful unit, significantly impacting his prospects for the race.
In the dry, Tsunoda struggled at the end of the race as the Williams of Alex Albon was clearly quicker, meaning only Alpine and Sauber looked genuinely slower than RB at the weekend.
Reflecting on the weekend at Silverstone, Ricciardo candidly expressed his frustrations.
“Compromised is a polite way of saying it. Hopefully there’s a big hole in my car that I haven’t yet seen, and that is the reason why we were really slow.
“Obviously, just as a team, we struggled here. Looking at the Williams at the end on that stint and Sargeant pulled away from me and I believe Albon came and passed Tsunoda.”
Ricciardo acknowledged Tsunoda’s efforts in finishing in the points on another difficult weekend for the team as their updated packaged from Barcelona turned into a mix and match with the previous spec one.
“Yuki got a point, he did well, but I think as a team we weren’t very competitive this weekend. I certainly struggled more in the race, I’m still not completely sure why.
“There were moments my engineer was telling me I think I was about eight tenths off and I was quite surprised to hear that because I felt like I just crossed the line and did a good lap. I felt like definitely moments where there was mixed conditions there was a few laps where I didn’t put in maybe a handful of laps in those mixed conditions.”
Discussing the challenges faced during the race, the 35-year-old commented that other teams have simply overtaken RB in the development race.
“Fast forwarding to the end or even the start where it was dry, I struggled for sure with grip and balance. I think these circuits have exposed us a little bit and the other teams have made some good updates, and that’s also reality.
“And why I struggled more than Yuki today, I’ll try and have a look, but as always, I make notes during the race and share them with the team now and try to understand why I felt what I felt.”
When asked about the importance of updates regarding the rest of the season, Ricciardo emphasised the significance of this period as what they learn now will be vital come the end of the season.
“This could be a real kind of shifting point or you’re at that moment where you need to make the best calls.
“I mean every moment of F1 is important but because this update and our correlation and our understanding can obviously dictate what we do with the next update and how well we understand it. And what we learn now will basically dictate where our car is in October, November. So it’s a really important period for us.”
The Australian driver also shared insights into the team’s efforts to remain competitive, highlighting the recent challenges posed by Haas. The American-owned team took 16 points out of RB across Austria and Britain, leaving just 4 between them in the Constructors’ Championship as they battle for P6.
“Definitely the last couple of weekends it was Haas. Nico scored big two weekends in a row now and all of a sudden we are still sixth place in the constructors but the gap isn’t there anymore. It’s three or four points, this sport can shift so quickly and you never rest.
“That’s why, fairness to the team, we brought updates a couple of weeks ago, we were pushing, we’ve been bringing updates every few races.”
Ricciardo then discussed the effectiveness of recent updates by saying that while the latest one has not given them the step forward they needed, he hopes they can find the solution to unlock more performance in the two rounds ahead of the summer break.
He emphasised the importance of giving constructive advice and keeping everyone’s motivation high as they look to rediscover the speed they had in the car before the triple-header.
“They’ve actually been working really well, so obviously this one hasn’t as much as certainly we would have wanted.
“It’s not due to a lack of effort but yeah this is now where you get tested, where the season’s looking really good and now it’s at a kind of plateau. As I said, we have to make that right step and it’s not about throwing tables around the room.
“It’s all constructive and trying to keep everyone together and it’s also motivational. Haas, they’ve obviously found something. There are things that we can find so we’re just gonna make sure we find it.
The 8-time Grand Prix winner addressed the specific issues faced towards the end of the race and the lack of fundamental pace he had.
While satisfied with the balance, the performance simply was not there.
“I remember I was struggling with the lap time trying to find it, I think my engineer asked me what am I missing, what do I need… I was saying that the balance and stuff was actually okay, we’re just lacking load.
“That’s why when I heard the lap times of the others I was quite confused because I said I did the lap and the lap felt pretty clean, a few little things but felt decent like I was close to the potential of the car and that’s when I was like I don’t really have an answer right now, where this lap time is.
“We have to look forward to make everything better. But right now with what we have tried to probably still with set-up, there’s maybe a couple of things myself and the team are maybe not quite grasping,” he concluded.
