Ricciardo frustrated, confused by Q3 drop in pace

Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after only qualifying sixth for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday, being at a loss for an answer as to why his pace dipped in the final Q3 shootout.

Ricciardo set the fastest time in Q1 and was competitive again in Q2, appearing to put himself in the fight for pole position, only to then finish Q3 almost a second behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton down in P6.

Teammate Max Verstappen managed to secure second place on the grid despite dealing with an engine issue throughout the session, going six-tenths of a second faster than Ricciardo.

While Ricciardo said he had a minor engine problem through the session, he stressed it had not been the cause of his dip in pace, for which he still had no definitive answer.

“To be honest, we had a little bit [of engine issues] but it wasn’t the reason why we dropped so much pace in qualifying. Right now I honestly don’t have an answer,” Ricciardo said.

“We were there, we made changes after P3 this morning. As a driver you know immediately if a change works and in Q1 it felt like it was there and we were like: ‘Sweet, we are going to be in this thing.’

“It seemed like everyone else could run with it, through Q2, Q3, find a second if not more and we just stayed as a stalemate.

“I don’t know why we were the only ones who couldn’t find the time right now.”

Ricciardo was sceptical of his race chances on pace alone given the difficulty of overtaking in Singapore, believing his best chance instead lies with tyre strategy. 

"Right now, I am struggling to let qualifying go. It’s still too soon,” Ricciardo said.

“Even with good pace here, it’s so tricky to overtake. We will try and do something.

“All we can hope for if the cars in front, their tyres fall away and they’re forced then to do a two-stop.

“Otherwise, if everyone does a one-stop, hope for someone to run on the track like they did in 2015 I guess.”