Ricciardo was only able to finish 14th in the morning, 0.8 seconds ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
In the afternoon he did better in terms of pure lap time and finished the race just a tenth ahead of Norris, albeit in 15th place.
The Australian has struggled for an all-time pace since joining the Woking team this season and Ricciardo feels he lacks the greatest confidence in the high-speed corners.
“I think it’s still confident of what I have and when I say what I have, I mean the car under me to negotiate the corners and attack, if you know what I mean,” Ricciardo said training on Friday in Bahrain. “Essentially all the high-speed things that you deliver and at the end of the day – of course there is a lot of technology, but it’s also about trusting the car and handing it in and knowing that it will last.
“I think the sensation is still a little different, and that probably takes away a bit of that confidence from me at the moment. But to say that for sure some of the reasons this morning, this afternoon, it has certainly gotten better.
“I think there is a little bit of that, and ultimately just a little bit with the setup. I think Lando is complaining about the same things in the debriefing, or the weaknesses are the same things, but I think he’s just a little bit more used to this car doing that and he can probably pull it off a little better . But in the end we are still trying to improve this area. “
On the subject of matching items
McLaren introduced a new front wing and floor for this weekend’s race in Barcelona.
Teammate Norris reviews the new upgrades and says McLaren needs to analyze them after going backwards in terms of performance between FP1 and FP2.
“Definitely just a few things that could be improved on the balance side, a little understanding of why we think we were better this morning than we were this afternoon, including the temperature,” added Norris.
“So still different things, still the fourth race of the season, the fourth track of the season, so still different characteristics, different asphalts and the like, so still new things, learning, but tomorrow is the important day and then it is we have to put it all together. “
