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Daniel Ricciardo was left scratching his head due to a “mystery” with his AlphaTauri in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Ricciardo had stated after second practice at the Yas Marina Circuit that he felt his AT04, sporting a new floor, was good enough for a top-10 spot on the grid.
It was clear, however, that whatever feelings Ricciardo had with the car on Friday evening did not translate into Saturday as he was 18th quickest in FP3, and will start a lowly 15th on the grid, despite tweaks made to setup in the hope of improvements.
“The moment the car hit the track we were slow,” said Ricciardo. “It was honestly a bit strange.
“We did a bit of fine-tuning and we were quite optimistic with the new floor and a few positives we found from that, and it was just trying to put it all together.
“But in FP3, we struggled with a couple of little things, so for qualifying we went back on the little things just to be sure, to have the car from Friday, but it was still the same story. Even with a new set of tyres in Q2, we didn’t improve the lap time from Q1.
“With track evolution, things like this, it was quite strange. Nothing fundamentally felt off. There were a few corners where you were fighting a little bit, but it just felt like we didn’t have the speed, and for now, it’s a little bit of a mystery.”
In contrast, team-mate Yuki Tsunoda showed pace throughout, with the Japanese driver starting a superb sixth.
Ricciardo stated that in Friday’s practice, Tsunoda moved towards his setup, with the duo ending up with “a pretty similar car”.
“After Friday, I felt like it (the car) was getting into a good place,” added Ricciardo. “Where I see Yuki finished (in qualifying), that’s how I felt coming into Saturday. I definitely felt like we were going to be a Q3 car.
“Obviously, it’s never guaranteed but we were certainly confident. He made progress and we got worse. We didn’t really experiment with anything crazy, so for now a bit of a mystery. We’ll try to figure it out.
“But this is race cars. I don’t want to simplify it by saying that, but sometimes they can just be happy one day and not too happy the next. Hopefully, (for the race) the car is happy. Maybe I’ll give it a little tickle.”
Tsunoda’s starting position gives AlphaTauri a shot at finishing seventh in the constructors’ championship, with the team seven points behind Williams, whose drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant start 14th and 20th respectively.
Ricciardo is determined to pull his weight, although at this stage he is unsure as to the direction he requires to do so.
“I don’t want him (Tsunoda) to do all the lifting himself,” said Ricciardo.
“On one hand, looking at his day, it fills us with optimism, but obviously my day, we’ve got a bit of head scratching going on.
“I’m sure we’ll find something but I just didn’t feel a peak in the tyre, a peak in the grip.”
