RB is "missing something with the new package ", says Ricciardo
Following a very difficult race weekend at Barcelona, Daniel Ricciardo claimed that his team's recent developments have failed to deliver the results the Faenza-based outfit had hoped.
Daniel Ricciardo endured a difficult qualifying session, securing only P18 on the grid.
Although the Australian was able to make progress in the race thanks to an impressive tyre management on his second stint, he only worked his way up to P15.
“It’s obviously disappointing finishing in P15, but I’m happy with my race and how we managed it as a team with the two stops.
"I think yesterday I just missed a touch in qualifying, but honestly, today I feel like I maximised it with a good race. We managed the tyres and pushed when we needed to, so unfortunately, I think we just didn’t have more to show this weekend.
The Faenza-based outfit introduced a comprehensive set of upgrades at Barcelona, hoping for big improvements.
However, the heavily-revised VCARB01 has been a disappointment so far which prompted Ricciardo to claim that the team is somewhat lost with the new package.
"There’s certainly lots to learn from weekends like this. We take a few little positives and a few more things to work on because we seem to be missing something with the new package.
"It's a quick turnaround, so we’ll work on it tonight, trying to understand more in preparation for Austria next weekend."
Yuki Tsunoda found himself on a roll in recent races, but he endured a tough weekend at Barcelona. The Japanese driver never looked comfortable behind the wheel of his VCARB01, and secured only P17 on the grid.
The race turned out to be a similarly difficult affair as he struggled for an optimal balance. In the end, he failed to make any progress and finished down in P19.
“It was a tough race, in which I struggled. The handling of the car was definitely not easy, and I did not feel as comfortable as I normally do.
"Something wasn’t quite right, and we'll analyse everything that happened to understand what did not work well and come back stronger in Austria.”
Visa Cash RB technical director Jody Egginton was at a loss for words when explaining the reasons for the team's lack of pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“With the qualifying positions we had, we knew that it would be difficult to score points and we needed to be ready to try something different if the race provided the opportunity, but unfortunately it did not.
"Daniel's pace and degradation on the medium compound in his middle stint was reasonable and he was able to close on the group of cars ahead including Alonso, Stroll and Bottas. However, some blue flags immediately after his second stop cost him some time and he lost touch with this group for a while.
"Although his pace was comparable, we could not get back onto this pack. Yuki was not happy with the balance of his car and although the guys worked hard to try and improve this via tools and flap adjustments, it was still difficult.
"We need to have a good look over the car when it's out of Parc fermé and see if we can find anything obvious.
"Looking at the bigger picture from this weekend, we have a lot of analysis to complete ahead of Austria next weekend in order to understand in more detail why we have underperformed here in Barcelona relative to our expectations and our general level of performance up to this point in the season" Egginton noted.
Visa Cash RB team boss Laurent Mekies conceded that the team had realised after the opening session that the Spanish Grand Prix would be a tough weekend as the VCARB01 had underperformed in every segment of the track.
“We came here with high hopes for the upgrades that everyone back in the factory has worked so hard to design and produce as part of our aggressive development strategy.
"Unfortunately, right from the start of Free Practice we were lacking pace in every session. There is no point denying this was a poor weekend for us and although the gaps were very small, we’re not going to make excuses for the fact we just weren’t competitive.
"Given our starting positions, it would have required some unusual circumstances – rain, a safety car – but the race was pretty linear and while both drivers did their best, we leave Spain with nothing to show for our efforts.
“Looking at the positives, we did a lot of tests across both cars to acquire as much data as possible. Now, our whole group faces a stern test to try and make some progress in the very few days available until we are back on track at the Red Bull Ring.
"It’s a very long season, so there are bound to be some tough weekends. We just have to put this one behind us, we must not get downhearted but instead, look ahead and focus on fighting back immediately in a few days’ time in Austria.”
