Ricciardo was one of the stars of Saturday as he progressed to Qualifying 3 and topping the opening segment along the way.
While happy with the result, he was mildly frustrated that he didn’t achieve more, suggesting under different circumstances, he could have challenged Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso for seventh.
That he was unable to was the result of changeable conditions and two red flags during the qualifying hour, the second of those for his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
“I definitely feel like we would have had something for the Aston’s without the red in Q3,” Ricciardo lamented.
“I don’t know if we would have got Fernando or what, but I definitely think we would have been in the fight.
“It’s been solid and I feel like there’s still a little bit left on the table, just with circumstances.”
Secure your spot today.
Ricciardo’s pace has come at a useful time as pressure mounts on Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing.
The Mexican crashed out in Qualifying 1 and will start the race itself from 16th as a result – though there’s a chance that will become the pit lane after he tore the left-hand wheels off his car in the incident.
With Red Bull Racing under pressure from McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari, strong points-paying results are important in the context of the constructors’ championship.
From 16th on the grid, it will be difficult for Perez to deliver much, creating an opportunity for Ricciardo.
It’s been suggested Perez could be dumped by Red Bull Racing over the summer break, with the Australian potentially in the frame as his replacement.
“I haven’t been told anything but I’ve told myself ‘fucking do it, go fast, you’ve got two races to give it a whirl’,” Ricciardo admitted.
“And that’s honestly not even with the idea of moving up, it’s even just trying to lock something in for next year.
“So I intentionally came into this weekend telling myself that these two races could be sort of the most important of my, not only season, but potentially career.
“They haven’t specifically said anything to me, but I’ve said enough to myself.”
A crash for Perez, a fate that also befell Tsunoda, has therefore not hurt the Australian’s cause.
“I have not seen Checo’s yet,” Ricciardo said.
“I saw the aftermath but I honestly don’t even know what corner he went off on.”
He did however catch Tsunoda’s, and suggested the outcome was disproportionate to the incident, but one that could have easily been foreseen.
“A few of us on Thursday, like the few that do a track walk, saw the edge drops a lot [at Turn 5],” he explained.
“We thought if you drop off a wheel there, it’s going to just skateboard and do literally what it did.
“There’s just no margin for error on that corner.
“I saw him get out so I think he’s okay but obviously it’s completely destroyed the car.”
Tsunoda qualified 10th fastest for the race, however given his car sustained heavy damage in the crash it’s expected he’ll instead line up in pit lane.
RB sits sixth in the constructors’ championship on 31 points, four clear of Haas in fifth and 37 behind Aston Martin.
While the latter has two cars in the top 10, Nico Hulkenberg in 11th is the best-placed Haas driver on the grid, with Kevin Magnussen 15th.
The focus will therefore be scoring points to see off the challenge posed by the American-registered operation while, if at all possible, reduce Aston Martin’s advantage.
“I think it’s good for us coming into the race tomorrow that we were looking ahead,” he said.
“We’re certainly not trying to hang on to these points. We’re going to try and hunt for more.”
The Hungarian Grand Prix begins at 15:00 local time (23:00 AEST).
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