Ricciardo set for floor upgrade in Baku

Ricciardo expects to have the latest iteration of the component fitted to his car after missing out in Italy.

There, Yuki Tsunoda raced the only example of the floor, receiving preferential treatment courtesy of his position in the drivers’ championship.

The Japanese driver’s race was cut short following contact with Nico Hulkenberg in the opening stages.

It followed a disappointing qualifying where he was only 16th fastest, while Ricciardo managed 12th in the Saturday session.

Tsunoda was critical of the new floor during the weekend, suggesting it had worsened the balance of the RB.

“The floor comparison, which we will take, it’s not clear – for sure there’s some downsides of the new floor,” he said after retiring in Monza.

“We saw in the data the things that [were] unexpectedly worse than we thought, but end up affecting a couple of things.

“We have to compare. Obviously, some other things are also gaining compared to the old floor, so we have to compare which we need more, which is more in terms of that kind of downside and benefit.

“I didn’t feel straight away clear benefits.”

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Despite Tsunoda’s feedback, Ricciardo expects to run the new floor in Baku.

“The plan is, unless they see some strong negatives, the plan is still to run them in Baku,” the Australian confirmed.

“Sometimes what you can’t predict is, on track, it might produce more load, but maybe it shifts the balance.

“So maybe setting the car up is trickier and maybe that’s what it was; maybe that we didn’t just quite get the setup right to kind of exploit all the grip.”

Uncertainty surrounding the floor comes after an earlier upgrade package also left RB scratching its head.

The Spanish package was ultimately described as a downgrade by Ricciardo and saw the team compromise both the Austrian and British Grands Prix as it worked to roll back and understand the issue.

Another inconclusive development now points to a correlation issue – a point hinted at by Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner.

Red Bull Racing and RB share the same wind tunnel.

“I want to believe that it can still be good because obviously the last one wasn’t too good for us,” Ricciardo noted of the latest floor design.

“I’d like to think this one is better.

“But obviously Yuki has the only experience with that.

“He was a bit vocal about having a tough weekend, so we’ll see, but it’s something I would definitely try before – I want to at least give it a session and have a feel for it before I maybe say it’s not the one.”

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix begins on Friday, with opening practice starting at 19:30 AEST.