A slide through Eau Rouge on his final lap in Qualifying 3 for the Belgian Grand Prix saw Daniel Ricciardo have his lap deleted.
The Australian was bundled out of the three-part session with the 19th best time, faster only than the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.
His fate was sealed just three corners into his final flying lap, when he slid wide and onto a wet part of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
From there, he was essentially a passenger as his Scuderia AlphaTauri went beyond the white line, ensuring his best lap was deleted.
“I basically tried to take Eau Rouge flat,” Ricciardo said.
“I entered full [throttle], and I felt the car start to move, and so I had a little lift and it just then put me a bit offline.
“Then I was on the wetter part of the track, and I couldn’t really do much more; I kind of just had to let the car go.
“I tried to save it… But yeah, frustrating, obviously.
“On one hand, this is what quali is, you’ve obviously got to try, and my intentions were good to try and take it full.
“I thought it could have been done, but yeah, a little error put us out.”
The mistake came on Ricciardo’s 10th lap of the circuit, having logged just seven laps in practice.
That’s a point the 34-year-old is aware of in the context of his return and limited seat time, especially given his otherwise competitive showing.
“The result today is, yeah, frustrating, disappointing and all of that, but I think we were there,” he said.
“The first run, I was a little bit further away; I think that lap as well, without the Eau Rouge thing, I could have picked up a little bit more time.
“I think we’re there, within a couple of tenths or so, and excited to go in Q2 and see if I can keep chipping away.
“So, generally, the speed is there, and that’s important – there wasn’t too much head scratching.
“I think there’ll still obviously be things we can improve, but it was positive, and it’s just obviously a shame to start Sunday now at the back.”
Discussion about this post