Ricciardo 'lost for words' after RB failure in Spanish GP qualifying

Daniel Ricciardo was at a loss for words after being informed he failed to reach Q2 in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. 

The heavily upgraded RB machine failed to make it out of the first segment of qualifying in Barcelona, with Yuki Tsunoda 17th and Ricciardo 18th fastest. 

Whilst Ricciardo was not expecting to challenge for a Q3 top 10 grid spot, he did feel that a Q2 slot was possible and admitted he was speechless when informed of the result. 

"When you get a new floor, obviously that is where these cars are so powerful in terms of load, and it is just trying to get on top of that," Ricciardo told media including RacingNews365. 

"I feel like we made a good step, but when Pierre [Hamelin, race engineer], told me I was P18, I didn't really have anything to say on the radio. 

"I was honestly quite surprised. I knew we were not going to be top 10, but I honestly thought it would have been good enough for Q2.

"We are just not that quick, normally if you put three sets [of soft tyres] in Q1, it never guarantees you a spot in Q2, but it gives you a much better chance, and still not to make it shows that we just don't have the pace at the moment."

Progress but not enough

RB brought a new engine cover, sidepod inlet, floor and rear-wing to Barcelona in one of the biggest upgrade packages on the grid. 

However, whilst Ricciardo felt the machine did not feel "too bad", he was able to find an encouraging point in the struggles moving forward.

"The car felt more together, it didn't feel too bad in qualifying and of course there are some corners where you feel: 'I should be flat there or whatever', so we might still be missing some load," he said.

"It felt better than [Friday], and so to be back where we are, a bit more still needs to be refined. 

"We'll keep chipping away and [on Friday], it felt like we were still fighting it a little bit and so made some bigger changes overnight, so we probably haven't perfected it right now, and that is the encouraging thing. 

"The feeling was much better [in qualifying], I had more confidence but unfortunately on the stopwatch, we were still where we were on Friday."