F1 Spanish Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo and VCARB licking their wounds after ‘poor weekend’

As far as weekends go, this was one to neglect for Daniel Ricciardo and your entire Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.

While VCARB arrived at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hopeful {that a} collection of upgrades to the RB01 would unlock extra efficiency, from the opening laps of FP1 it was clear that they might be on the again foot. That continued into qualifying — which noticed Ricciardo and teammate Yuki Tsunoda eradicated in Q1 — and prolonged into the race itself. Both Ricciardo and Tsunoda completed outdoors the factors, leaving VCARB to lick their wounds after their first points-less weekend for the reason that Chinese Grand Prix again in April.

Team Principal Laurent Mekies was blunt in his evaluation.

“We got here right here with excessive hopes for the upgrades that everybody again within the manufacturing unit has labored so laborious to design and produce as a part of our aggressive growth technique, started Mekies within the group’s post-race report. “Unfortunately, proper from the beginning of Free Practice we had been missing tempo in each session.

“There isn’t any level denying this was a poor weekend for us and though the gaps had been very small, we’re not going to make excuses for the very fact we simply weren’t aggressive,” continued the VCARB boss. “Given our beginning positions, it could have required some uncommon circumstances – rain, a security automobile – however the race was fairly linear and whereas each drivers did their greatest, we go away Spain with nothing to indicate for our efforts.”

Tsunoda stored his evaluation brief and to the purpose.

“It was a tricky race, during which I struggled. The dealing with of the automobile was undoubtedly not simple, and I didn’t really feel as comfy as I usually do,” described Tsunoda. “Something wasn’t fairly proper, and we’ll analyse every thing that occurred to grasp what didn’t work nicely and are available again stronger in Austria.”

Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images

Ricciardo, typically the optimistic one within the group’s storage, did his greatest to place a constructive spin on issues. The Australian driver managed to spotlight some vibrant spots on a dismal day in Barcelona.

“It’s clearly disappointing ending in P15, however I’m pleased with my race and the way we managed it as a group with the 2 stops. I feel yesterday I simply missed a contact in qualifying, however actually, right now I really feel like I [maximized] it with a superb race,” described Ricciardo. “We managed the [tires] and pushed after we wanted to, so sadly, I feel we simply didn’t have extra to indicate this weekend. There’s definitely tons to study from weekends like this.

“We take a number of little positives and some extra issues to work on as a result of we appear to be lacking one thing with the brand new bundle. It’s a fast turnaround, so we’ll work on it tonight, attempting to grasp extra in preparation for Austria subsequent week.”

The VCARB boss concluded with a little bit of a problem to the group.

“Now, our complete group faces a stern take a look at to attempt to make some progress within the only a few days out there till we’re again on observe on the Red Bull Ring,” mentioned Mekies. “It’s a really lengthy season, so there are sure to be some powerful weekends. We simply must put this one behind us, we should not get downhearted however as an alternative, look forward and give attention to preventing again instantly in a number of days’ time in Austria.”

Thankfully for the group, they won’t have an excessive amount of time to lick these wounds, as Red Bull Ring awaits.