Ricciardo held up by 'strange' seatbelt issue in FP2

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo suffered a delayed start to his FP2 session because of a "strange" issue involving the seatbelts of his R.S.19.

While the track action gained momentum in Friday's afternoon session, the local hero was stranded in his garage, his Renault mechanics frantically pouring over the cockpit of his car.

"We were a bit delayed getting out for both runs - just a few little things with the belts," said the Aussie, who concluded his day P8 in FP2, just behind team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

"It was actually strange, because they were really loose. Then they made a small adjustment and they couldn't even tighten them. It is like the adjustments were out. We will figure that out."

• Daniel Ricciardo unveils his 'funky lid' for 2019

The issue inevitably led to lost track time for Ricciardo.

"We could have got a few more laps in both runs but in the end we did what we had to," he added.

"I wouldn't say it was down to a lack of track time, it was just figuring out what to do.

"It is a bumpy circuit so working out what to sacrifice ride for, to take the kerbs and the bumps well or to be aggressive to get the most downforce out of the car."

While Ricciardo labeled has short runs as positive, he was less impressed with the pace of his R.S.19 on the longer stint, although Hulkenberg's own performance in that respect was much better.

Daniel Ricciardo says he and the Renault Formula 1 team were caught out by a "strange" seatbelt issue on the opening day of Australian Grand Prix practice.

Ricciardo lost time in the second Friday session when Renault struggled to get him comfortable with his belts.

"We were a bit delayed getting out for both runs - just a few little things with the belts," said the Australian, who ended up eighth overall in second practice.

"It was actually strange, because they were really loose. Then they made a small adjustment and they couldn't even tighten them. It is like the adjustments were out. We will figure that out.

"We could have got a few more laps in both runs but in the end we did what we had to. I wouldn't say it was down to a lack of track time, it was just figuring out what to do.

"It is a bumpy circuit so working out what to sacrifice ride for, to take the kerbs and the bumps well or to be aggressive to get the most downforce out of the car."

Ricciardo said he was happy with the short run pace of his Renault, but his longer runs were not so encouraging.

But with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg having looked stronger on that front, he was far from concerned.

"It's hard to read, the short run at the end was OK. The long runs not so good," he said.

"There was still quite a lot to learn with the car and still probably some ways to set it up - a few tricks here or there.

"Nico obviously has a bit more knowledge with that so I just need to try to understand a bit of that direction as well.

"For now probably I will learn a few things from him and, as time goes on, hopefully he will learn a few things from me.

"But I think the car doesn't look too bad for now. His long run looked better than mine and quite impressive, so that is positive."

Looking forward to Saturday, the Honey Badger said the running order would be hard to predict, among the front-runners and even more so among the mi-field pack.

"If both cars can be in the top seven or top eight that would be a good start to the season," said Renault's new recruit.

"But you look at the field and it is a bit strange. You see the Mercedes and the Red Bull in the front, and Ferrari I expect to get up there tomorrow.

"I don't know if they had any issues this afternoon or were running high fuel or they are just not fast. But it is crazy around here.

"You see Kimi [Raikkonen] was up there in fifth or something, so it is going to be quite close tomorrow getting that lap, getting a clean lap. It could change three or four positions with just one or two tenths."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter