Daniel Ricciardo sought to reassure his legions of fans in Melbourne that his unexpected elimination from qualifying at the end of Q2 wasn't a true picture of the current level of his performance - or that of his new Renault team.
Ricciardo will start from 12th place on the grid after missing out on progressing to the final top-ten pole shootout round. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg also failed to make the cut and will start alongside him on the grid in 11th.
"I don’t think 12th is a representation of where we are, I feel we are better," he insisted. "I’m clearly disappointed not to make Q3.
In the end, Ricciardo's best time in Q2 was 1:22.570s, which was just 0.008s slower than Hulkenberg.
It was a mere four hundredths of a second off the time he would have needed to pip Racing Point's Sergio perez for a place in the toop ten pole shoot-out.
"I knew it was going to be close, I thought we had the pace for Q3," he continued. "I’m not sure how deep we would have gone, but we only had half a tenth to get there. That was in the car.
"I don’t think the car was much better than another tenth, but it would have been nice to get into Q3," he said. "It was just half a tenth and that’s something I can find in myself.
"I lost a bit of time in the first sector on the last run. We had the potential to make Q3 so when you don’t do the perfect lap, it’s frustrating.
Despite his disappointment, Ricciardo was quietly confident of redeeming his weekend when it came to the race itself on Sunday.
"As expected the midfield is really close but I’m feeling optimistic for a strong result tomorrow.
"The changes we made today have me more confident for tomorrow," he insisted. "Normally if I don’t do so well in qualifying, I seem to carry a chip on my shoulder for the race which helps me out.
"I will use it as fuel for tomorrow!," he added. "I’m very optimistic for the race. It’s just a matter of if we can pass and attack.
I always want to do well at home, but we have to keep a cool head, have a good start and then attack when necessary.”
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