Having been somewhat under siege following a poor start to the 2024 season with the Visa Cash App RB team, Daniel Ricciardo had his best qualifying of the year so far and only narrowly missed out on making it into the final round.
Ricciardo finished qualifying in 11th place after just being pipped by his RB team mate, local hero Yuki Tsunoda who will start tomorrow's race one row ahead of him leaving them both eyeing points on Sunday.
A fired-up Ricciardo is not intending to let anyone stand in his way as he spies a rapid leap into the top ten once the lights go out to get the Japanese GP underway, and pledges to not let go once he has points within his grasp.
“I have mixed emotions today," he told Speedcafe and other media in Suzuka after falling just short of making the cut for the final round. "There’s a bit of frustration but it’s also encouraging to be so close to Q3 after a tricky start to the year.
"If we forget the scoreboard so to speak, I think it was a good session,” he continued, pointing out that it was all the more remarkable given his lack of any meaningful running on Friday.
Ricciardo was stood down for FP1 in favour of young driver Ayumu Iwasa. Second practice was then mostly a wash-out leaving the Australian short of track time heading into today's final practice and crucial qualifying sessions.
"I didn’t get any dry running yesterday," he commented. "We had a few laps this morning to get into it, including a spin, and then obviously quick work to find those few tenths in quali.
“After yesterday to come out today and to have a strong showing, we’ve got to take that,” he said. "A day like this certainly isn’t a win - I’m not going to go that far - but we do see some positives in it.
“I’m pleased with us being pretty much there, but it’s not Q3," he lamented. “It would have been nice to give the guys a boost, but I think honestly they all seemed pretty happy.
“I’ve calmed down a little bit now,” he added after an emotional post-Q2 exchange over the team radio. “Not that I was angry, just the competitor in me, of course. I knew I was P10 and when you get bumped by just a little bit..."
Nonetheless, starting from P11 means that Ricciardo is in a very promising position to secure his first championship points of the season, which he said was very much his objective going into the race.
“We’re obviously there on the cusp of points. After a good start we will be in there, and then we will not let them go.
"Our race pace has been alright. Clean side of the grid, so I’ll fire myself into the top ten early," he declared. "So, points tomorrow!"
Tsunoda will also be hoping to make it a double points finish for RB tomorrow, after he picked up his first championship points of the season last time out with a top ten result in Melbourne.
“I felt a little pressure coming into this weekend after our strong performance in Australia, but I’d say it’s good pressure and I’m very happy I was able to get into Q3 in front of my family, friends and home crowd.
"Without everyone - the engineers and mechanics, on track and at the factory - supporting me, I wouldn’t have achieved this result and I’m very appreciative of them all.
"The qualifying itself wasn’t as easy as we expected, but overall as a team we did a fantastic job," he added. "The first step is done, and the second one is top ten in the race tomorrow, which I haven’t achieved here yet.
"We’ll put it together and try to have a perfect race!” he promised.
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