McLaren driver Ricciardo had qualified for a disappointing 14th place on Saturday and any chance for recovery was jeopardized by his team, who told him to be very conservative in the first half of the event.
Later in the race he got the green light to go full throttle again, but had already retired and came out of the points in 12th.
“After the start, we saved fuel very early in the race,” said Ricciardo. “And I’ve started doing what I thought was already a lot, and it wasn’t enough.
“So Tom [Stallard, race engineer] said, “You have to do more, you have to do more. It’s not enough and blah, blah, blah. ‘
“To the point where I think we sometimes lost two seconds per lap, we saved fuel.
“And with that the brakes get cold, the tires get cold and you lose your grip, so it’s just a downward spiral.
“So we saved fuel for a good half of the race and that just took us way out there.
“It’s most of what I had to save and the earliest thing in the race that I have ever had to save. I’ve driven every corner and it has never been enough.”
“And then I don’t know what obviously happened to the system, or they got another reading, but then Tom said, ‘Okay, no more, just press’.
“And I said, ‘But wait, no fuel savings?’ He says: ‘No, just push!’ So I thought, ‘I’m so confused …’
“It’s clearly a system failure today and it’s a shame because when I was able to push I felt the reference time I had when I was able to achieve it.
“But today we were at the mercy of a reading mistake.”
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
Ricciardo’s life was made more difficult at the start when he lost a few places after trying to find a braking point for the first corner.
“It wasn’t a bad start, but there was Charles [Leclerc] and [Lance] Stroll and I think I was kind of in the middle and basically couldn’t see Turn 1.
“Of course it’s pretty hard to see that far across the field at the back, so you look for the brake markings just to get an indication of when to brake.
“And I just couldn’t see her. So I stayed in as long as possible and then picked it up.
“In the end I just lifted way too early and then I think a lot of people outside had a clear run and walked that way.
“I think I just wasn’t in a great position. But yeah, I don’t really know what more I could have done in that split second, but of course I’ll check.”
He added: “I’m going to look on the bright side and say I’m glad it didn’t happen because it’s not a podium because that would have been the most painful thing ever, but if it had definitely gotten out of our way . ” a chance for points. “
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