Daniel Ricciardo saved his finest for when it mattered most as he produced all through qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old Aussie secured his first look in Q3 and in a single beautiful second, ruined a Pink Bull rival.
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Ricciardo has lengthy been linked to the seat alongside three-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen and on Sunday (AEST) he received one over Sergio Perez.
The Visa CashApp RB driver knocked Perez out of the highest 10 together with his last lap across the Imola circuit, nevertheless it was Perez who had the ultimate say.
The Pink Bull driver had the ultimate lap of the session, however he couldn’t get it completed as he completed 0.015s behind the Aussie, handing him eleventh place on the grid.
Ricciardo in the end ended up securing a ninth place begin for the race, two locations behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
He mentioned he was nonetheless “struggling fairly a bit” on the primary sector however in any other case noticed it as a “optimistic day” for the staff as a complete.
“Qualifying was a greater session for me, we made some progress from the beginning of the weekend as we had been struggling a bit greater than Yuki,” he mentioned.
“In each lap I did, I used to be all the time looking for a bit extra right here and there, however the first sector continues to be the half the place I’m struggling quite a bit. That’s the place the lap received away from me however we’ll preserve taking a look at it tonight to grasp extra, and I’ll work on it.”
Perez wasn’t blissful after qualifying got here to an finish and mentioned the staff had been enjoying with the automotive fairly a bit and he received caught out within the center session.
“We’ve got been enjoying up and down with the automotive loads. Going into Qualifying with the small margins, Q1 I began fairly badly as a result of I had a poor lap however in the long run it turned out we had been protected.
“This meant we began Q2 with scrubbed tyres. As soon as we put the brand new tyre on within the second run, I surprinsgly picked up plenty of rear grip and received caught up with it.
“Going into Flip Seven I went straight and misplaced two-and-a-half tenths.”
It was a combination of feelings for fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri after he produced a scintillating Q3 lap to nab second place on the grid.
His celebrations had been short-lived nevertheless as a three-place grid penalty was handed all the way down to the Aussie following an incident that unfolded in Q1 when he appeared to impede Haas’ Kevin Magnussen whereas he was on a sizzling lap.
The penalty means Piastri will now take his place on the grid behind the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
“So, so near pole … very pleased with how this weekend’s going thus far,” Piastri mentioned.
“I believe sure (we will combat for extra tomorrow),” he added. “I believe no, we’ve mentioned up to now.
“I believe the arrogance is excessive that we will do one thing good.”
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Grid
Entrance row: Max Verstappen, Lando Norris
Second row: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz
Third row: Oscar Piastri, George Russell
Fourth row: Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton
Fifth row: Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg
Sixth row: Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon
Seventh row: Lance Stroll, Alex Albon
Eighth row: Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas
Ninth row: Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen
Tenth row: Fernando Alonso, Lance Sargeant
