Daniel Ricciardo finished the Japanese Grand Prix in sixth place, a result which reflects a fairly unremarkable afternoon for the Australian with not much more he could have done.
The Red Bull driver admitted that starting on the right side of the track, where the tarmac was still a bit damp, pretty much put a spanner in his works at the outset.
"Raikkonen's gearbox penalty this morning was sort of the opposite of a blessing in disguise, as it put me on the wet side of the grid," said Ricciardo.
"It looked like all of us on that inside line struggled, especially Hamilton. I don't think my initial launch was that bad, but than having to go around him I sort of crossed the wet patch and lost out to Perez, and that's what shaped out the first stint."
Ricciardo eventually found himself swamped in traffic and dirty air, the combination of which hampered any hopes of progress and crafted the Aussie's end result.
"It just seemed like we couldn't really follow the cars that well, with the dirty air, and we didn't really have the straight-line speed to make an attack.
"We just struggled in traffic today, just fell behind the eight ball from that first stint. I didn't feel there was anything we could do.
"I thought it was just a bit of circumstances how the race panned out. The last sting we finally got some clean air and it looked like we could put in some quick times. But in the end we conceded sixth and that was it."
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