On Friday, Ricciardo showed signs of improvement after a tough start to the 2024 season.
In China, Ricciardo had faster speeds but got into a crash with Lance Stroll. In Miami, during sprint qualifying, he surprised everyone by grabbing the fourth starting position for Saturday’s race.
He was only four tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen, who was in the lead, driving for Red Bull. Ricciardo admitted that he hit the wall during his second and third qualifying laps.
“I’m feeling really good about it,” Ricciardo told F1.com. “I’m happy to start on the second row, it’s great. I made a mistake on the first lap of qualifying, so I was putting pressure on myself, but I improved from there.”
“Max was surprised to be in first place with his lap, and I was surprised to be in fourth place with mine. I thought the soft tires would be faster, but they weren’t much different from the medium ones.”
“We expected everyone to go much faster, but they didn’t. I also hit the wall both times, so I told the team I was really pushing the limits.”
“I don’t know if hitting the wall made me faster or not, but we were pushing hard, and I felt confident in the car.”
Ricciardo is still aiming for his first points of the season. He hopes to turn his fourth-place start into a good finish since the top eight drivers earn points in the sprint race.
“I would love to finish higher than eighth and get some points,” he said. “I’ve experienced starting at the front in Mexico, and it’s much better than starting in the middle of the pack.”
“It’s like a breath of fresh air not to be caught up in the chaos of the first lap and to have a cleaner start at the front.”
His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, finished in 15th place in qualifying after struggling to put together a fast enough lap.
“We had good speed in the first qualifying session, so the car was performing well,” Tsunoda said.
“But we couldn’t maximize it, and I probably didn’t drive my best either. I think doing two fast laps would have been better for us, that was the main issue.”
