Daniel Ricciardꦏo qualified for today’s F1 Bahrain Grand Prix in 14th, ending the early optimism surrounding his RB team.

RB have come under the microscope of rival teams for their close association to Red Bull but, while Max Verstappe✤n took pole position, Yuki Tsunoda only claimed P11 and Ricciardo i൩s three places further back.

“I was disappointed in my position sla☂sh performance,” ཧRicciardo said afterwards.

“I didn’t drive shit 🍨or anythജing. But I never really crossed the line being like ‘Yeah, I did a clear lap!’

“I always knew I could make time at Turn 1, or Turn 4. There were always some parts on the track wherꦇe I knew there was ಌlap time.

“But I never really was able to put it together.

“Eve🎀n if I improved a little bit then I’d probably lose a bit in the next corner, so it see-sawed a bit. I was never progressively gaining.

“So I felt like, fro𝄹m that poi🌌nt of view, I wasn’t that happy with my session.

“In terms of te𓆏am pe✱rformance, this is where we thought.

“I feel ಞlike there’s a bit more time on the table.

“But, taking Yuki in 11th, we felt like, if we🐭 do like a great lap, Q3 is possible but, otherwise, we’re probably💫 around that top 12 area.

“Every s🙈ession we make some subtle changes. So we’re still trying to chase the car a little bit, but nothing crazy.

“I would say in quali when, pro༺bably in the condition🧜s where everything is normally the best, I’ve probably struggled a bit more than I have in other sessions.

“When yꦅou push the car to the 🎃limit, you kind of expose a few other things and maybe I wasn’t as proactive with that in reading the conditions in the car.

“I just struggled to put the lap together. I felt like, if I pushed r🌼eally hard in one corner, then I would probably mess up the next corner.

“So I felt like it was a little bit tricky to just consistently improve in every corner. I felt like ‘you gain a 💦bit 𒈔here, lose a bit there’.

“So it was a bit of a struggle.

“Turn 1, I missed 💞the apex quite a few times, just not getting the front in.

“But every lap was ‘ဣOh yeah, I know where th🌃at is’.

“You knꦑow to brake and turn a little bit earlier, but I w🎀ould still be looking past the apex when I got there and being like ‘f**k!’

“I just missed it a little bit, maybe some setup or feeling with tyres. 
“Bu𓆏t I would expect myself to be🦩 able to find that in a few runs in quali.”