Fuel flow meter cost Ricciardo pace

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed an inconsistency with his fuel flow meter left him down on pace in recent races.

During the Japanese Grand Prix weekend it was revealed Ricciardo was suffering with his power unit performance more than Max Verstappen, going on to finish the race sixth while his team-mate was second. In Austin, Ricciardo revealed Red Bull has found a reason for the lack of straight-line speed, with his fuel flow meter having not been accurate.

"There was a little bit we found out afterwards with the fuel flow meter," Ricciardo said. "There is still a little bit inconsistency, and you see even across cars, and that is some have a little bit more on them than others, and it is just sometimes luck of the draw.

"It looked like I was grounding a bit more as well. So scrubbing off a bit more speed on the straights. So a couple things which probably emphasised it. But both of us have got new power units here, our fifth and last one for the year. So hopefully it is all pretty good again."

Asked if he was running a different set-up which may have had an impact compared to team-mate Verstappen, Ricciardo replied: "I am not sure.

"We did have a slightly different set up. Maybe with the rear springs, and that maybe meant I had to run a slightly different ride height that had an influence. It was I think a small thing like that, so there was a subtle ride height difference."

And Ricciardo says running the car lower is not a concern for him in terms of its handling, but may mean he then suffers with straight-line speed.

"For me in the car I am not too bothered if it is grounding a lot, and the engineers are always asking do you think we are too low? Is it affecting you when you brake? I am not too upset by it, so in the end I normally go with what the aero guys suggest. It is trying to run it as low as possible without being affected by the bumps or anything on the track. So perhaps I am not that disserved by a bit of grounding, so that is why some times we run a bit lower."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.