Engine breakdown was “discouraging” in the Styrian F1 race

The Australian finished in a low 13th place after a good start from the same position catapulted him to ninth place, negated by a mistake that forced him to let other riders pass.

Ricciardo was already frustrated by an inexplicable loss of performance in qualifying, which only gave him 13th place on the grid.

He made up for it with a strong first lap of the race, jumping into ninth place behind George Russell.

On the seventh lap, however, he lost power and quickly fell back to 12th place when Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen overtook him.

He solved the problem of changing switches after the team told him to switch to “white default zero one” and later to “white default eight zero” and suggested that he stay out of the slipstream of Raikkonen to the car to cool.

“It was disheartening because I got off to such a good start and obviously have a preferred strategy with the medium,” Ricciardo said when asked by Autosport about his frustrating race.

“I had the feeling that the cars in front of us would have had problems on the switch and we were in a really good position.

“So everything was there before us. And then I lost power, I think I felt it outside of the first lap.

“And then I got a couple of switches and we could restore it, I think on turn seven or eight.

“But I waved past everyone I overtook me on lap one. So you’re on the train and that’s it, finished in the afternoon.

“We were ahead of Sainz, same strategy, and he finished sixth. I really think we were today.

“I think we could have been fifth and sixth as a team again. So when it’s low, it’s really low, this sport.

“So that was one of those days that I really didn’t want.”

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Ricciardo said his Mercedes engine worked perfectly for the rest of the afternoon, despite losing another seat to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

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“It was good after that,” he said.

“In a way, it’s even more annoying. When you fall back this far sometimes you think, okay, let’s end the pain somehow.

“We still have a long race ahead of us. But once you’re on this train, everyone has DRS somehow, and clear air is so important here.

“It was just so static. I think everyone’s pace was pretty much the same in dirty air. After that there was really nothing more to do. The race has changed like a change to be honest.”

On the plus side, Ricciardo noted that the team had made progress in understanding their qualification issues.

“Yeah, I definitely got clarity on some areas that we kind of missed,” he said.

“I think I would comfortably say that we are 50% up. I think there is a little more to understand.

“But I also think that there is also something about the setup. Let’s say I’m going into the next week optimistically that we will be fine.

“I felt pretty good. And especially today I left yesterday behind me, and I was very well prepared, ready for today’s start. And I think it showed another strong first lap. “