In the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo finished 16th, just behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, even after Yuki had received a five-second penalty.
Ricciardo faced a significant setback in Jeddah, enduring a prolonged 41-second pit stop caused by difficulties fitting the rear tyres. This issue happened as the team attempted a double-stacked pit stop during a safety car period. During the race, he also experienced a late spin at the first corner and found it challenging to overtake Williams’ driver, Logan Sargeant.
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Winner of eight Grand Prix races, Ricciardo acknowledged that the RB team had identified several shortcomings in their VCARB 01 car, saying: “Honestly, we found a few things over the course of the weekend.
“I think it was always going to be an uphill battle. We simply don’t have everything functioning at 100%.
“We see a few flaws, honestly, with the car.
“The race itself, safety car, everyone pitted, and we had a really slow stop. Then we’re in that train.
“At the end, then just to make sure, I made my mistake as well, I had a spin at Turn 1.”
Ricciardo did not detail the specific problems but highlighted challenges in achieving “efficiency,” leading to RB’s difficulties in making significant progress compared to other teams throughout the race weekend. Tsunoda, on his side, noted an issue with grip.
Ricciardo added: “Honestly, some things with the car. Like just when it comes to producing efficiency and everything, just a few things didn’t quite add up.
“When it kind of plateaus and the others keep improving, it’s also a bit of a sign. So, I could feel that that was the limit of the car.
“We did find some things afterwards. But then you’ve got parc ferme [regulations preventing major set-up changes]. And to be honest, even if we didn’t have parc ferme, it’s probably nothing we can fix in 24 hours.
“So, I’m sure a few things [will] go back to the factory and come back with a fresh car in Melbourne.”
As his home race in Melbourne appraoches, Ricciardo added: “The reason I’m staying optimistic is because I know that we had some things wrong. And with a good car and everything sorted, I know we can do a lot better.”
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