Daniel Ricciardo is sure that he maximised the performance of his RB in the Spanish Grand Prix as the team had a terrible weekend pace-wise in Barcelona.
The Italian team introduced a raft of upgrades, including a new engine cover and rear wing in Spain.
RB’s improvements failed to deliver and they went backwards, ending a run of four consecutive points-scoring races for the Austrian team. Both drivers got knocked out in Q1.
The 34-year-old drove a good race, running long in both stints. It allowed him to overtake Magnussen and Bottas towards the end to take P15.
“We weren’t there. It was really It was a strange weekend for us to have dropped off so much. But my race today, I felt good.
“I was happy with the race, happy with what I got out of it. 15th is not something that we can be happy about. But with the package we had this weekend, I honestly don’t think we could have done anything better.”
Qualifying proved disappointing for RB. Yuki Tsunoda set the 17th quickest time, just ahead of Ricciardo.
The Australian said he delivered a strong performance over a single lap but found more issues with the car over a race distance.
“I did not have a bad feeling about qualifying. I felt like in the debrief, Yuki and myself both said we did good laps.
“There was a little bit in turn 12, but we felt like the balance wasn’t bad. I think we simply lacked the load, and we probably don’t really get everything out of the new package. But today in the race, I definitely felt a few more limitations.”
Ricciardo did not completely rule out the team reverting back to their previous spec that has worked well if the team fails to understand why they struggled so much over the past weekend.
“I think that temptation probably only exists in maybe in 72 hours.
“If we’re still unsure or there’s no clear answer then maybe we say: ‘Okay. do we just for the time being go back?’
“But right now I’m not there yet to resort to that. Once we put everything on the table, if we’re still like that, then that probably becomes a question.”
RB are sixth in the Constructors’ Championship and has been the closest challenger to the top four teams at times recently.
The team will be eager to return to the top 10 and score points this weekend in Austria, the second race in a critical tripleheader.
Ricciardo has suffered a difficult opening 10 rounds, scoring points just once in a Grand Prix, taking eighth place in Canada. His form has been better recently, however.
Spain represented a step backwards for RB after a promising run of form, but Austria could provide an opportunity for redemption.
