Daniel Ricciardo admits 12th was “all it had”

Daniel Ricciardo will start the Italian Grand Prix from 12th on the grid after a session he felt was the best he could have hoped for.

Ricciardo managed a best lap of 1:20.479s in Qualifying 2 which left him 0.068s shy of progressing to the final phase of the session.

Despite the near miss, the 35-year-old was pleased with his performance.

“From a result, I would have loved to finish up in Q3,” he admitted.

“Sometimes you have to do what you can and the result is… In a way, the result shouldn’t dictate how you feel.

“I felt like I put it all into that last lap. There wasn’t really anywhere in particular where I was like ‘Oh, there’s a tenth there or there’, you know.

“There’s always little bits, but I felt like that was pretty much all it had.”

Starting 12th will see the Australian on the sixth row of the grid alongside Fernando Alonso.

By contrast, Yuki Tsunoda with the upgraded RB will line up 16th, his best lap almost half a second slower.

Ricciardo doesn’t not have the upgraded car this weekend, Tsunoda given priority based on his position in the drivers’ championship.

However, the 2021 Italian GP winner dismissed suggestions the upgrade was the difference, suggesting other factors were also at play.

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“There was what, half-a-tenth in it or something in Q1, so I wouldn’t say it’s the best I’ve ever driven,” he reasoned.

“But he had the updates this weekend, I haven’t.

“We have reason to believe its better, but I haven’t driven it, so I can’t obviously say it’s better or not.

“But it’s been tricky. I think it’s a combination of low downforce, new asphalt, it’s quite peaky, so just trying to find the grip and put the lap together isn’t easy.

“Probably that’s why I feel happier with my Q2 lap; I felt like there was no big snaps or mistakes, therefore I was like ‘Okay, I think that’s all it had’.”

The peaky nature of the circuit has seen a number of incidents through the weekend, giving rise to suggestions there could be a Safety Car during Sunday’s race.

Kimi Antonelli crashed in opening practice, while Kevin Magnussen found the wall in Free Practice 2.

There were no such delays in Free Practice 3, though qualifying was delayed so the track could be cleaned after gravel was dragged on by cars dipping wheels over the back of the revised kerbing.

Starting just outside of the points could create opportunities for Ricciardo and RB to adopt a more aggressive strategy to capitalise – even if he’s followed the crowed in terms of tyre allocation.

“There is a lot of unknowns,” Ricciardo conceded.

“FP3 we were a bit on the fence. Yuki went with 5-1-1 tyre allocation.

“No one’s really run the hard yet, so is it an easy one-stop? Is it not?

“I didn’t feel, or I’m still not probably convinced, and therefore when I saw everyone else go 4-1-2, I was like, ’Let’s go 4-1-2’.

“So if it’s a two-stop, if there is Safety Cars or whatever, I feel a bit happier now, a bit more protected.

“I’m in the same boat as everyone else, bar Yuki, but at least we’re not in no-man’s land if there’s a Safety Car on Lap 40 and we’re out of tyres.”