Daniel Ricciardo did not expect to be ranked so well
While he thought it would be difficult to make it to Q3, Daniel Ricciardo managed to qualify 5th at the end of the Bahrain qualifying session. On the other hand, it's another disappointment for Daniil Kvyat, who will start only 15th.
Definitely, the new qualifying format does not suit Daniil Kvyat. After being eliminated in Q1 in Melbourne, this time he was the first to be eliminated in Q2. But this time, the Russian believes it wasn’t due to a team error, but rather a real lack of performance from his car: « **”Today didn’t go as planned. Our timing for the session wasn’t bad but we simply didn’t have enough speed. On our side of the garage, something was missing in qualifying. I don’t know what it is yet, but this is not where I want to be.”** »
Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, doesn’t know how to explain Daniil Kvyat’s disappointment either. Nonetheless, he remains hopeful for the race: « Day was pleased with the car in warmer conditions on Saturday morning, but the car’s balance collapsed during qualifying, and he struggled to find a good rhythm. But as we’ve seen here in previous years, with a good strategy, overtaking is possible, and it should give us a fascinating race. »
Conversely, Daniel Ricciardo believed yesterday that it would be difficult to make it into Q3. Yet, he was the one who qualified as the best of the rest, behind the Mercedes and Ferraris, which he did not expect at all: « I’m very happy with today’s result. We didn’t expect to be fifth, especially from my side of the garage since yesterday didn’t go very well. We went into qualifying thinking that if everything went well, maybe we’d make it into Q3. So being 5th is great. »
At home, he managed to finish 4th despite starting 8th on the grid. All hopes can therefore be allowed for this race.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
