Ricciardo feels 'pretty dark' after "grim" Q1 elimination

Ricciardo could only manage 16th in Q1 at Portimao, over a second shy of McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the first part of qualifying.

The Australian felt he had made progress with adapting his driving style to the McLaren MC35M after Friday practice, as he outpaced Norris by 0.3s in FP2.

Ricciardo ultimately missed out on a spot in Q2 by just 0.091s.

Reflecting on his Q1 exit, Ricciardo said: “I don’t really know at the moment. It happens so quickly. I guess Q1, you get a few laps… certainly the laps were tricky, especially going towards the last sector, it was really hard to hang on.

“Why we struggled or why it was difficult to put a lap together, it’s not so clear at the moment. There’s a few things for sure - there were some tenths left on the table, it was tricky. 16th was grim. Certainly, not a result I feel good about at all.”

Despite his disappointing qualifying result in Portugal, Ricciardo says he feels more comfortable in the car than at Imola last time out.

“I think it’s certainly still trying to get out a little bit of an old style, I am still quite conscious about how I approach every corner,” Ricciardo added. “I feel like yesterday I had made a good step towards that. I certainly felt comfortable yesterday, certainly more comfortable than a couple of weeks ago.

“To be standing here now, it’s pretty dark. I will sleep it off.”