The McLaren driver made a strong start to the weekend on Friday and ended second practice P2 in the timesheets, butꦕ that performance failed to carry over into qualifying as he was eliminated in Q2.

Ricciardo could only manage a time good enough for 13th on the grid, while teammate L🍌ando Norris will start third, having lapped eight-tenths of a second faste🌌r than the Australian.

“It’s a bit of a mystery, actually,” Ricciardo said. “We were obviously quick yesterday, and 🦩I know it's only Friday practice, I don't expect to be fighting for pole position today.

“But obviously we were pretty comfortable with everything. ꦿWe put the car on track today and we are one second slower, pretty much. Then qualifying I think was a product also of this morning, we were just off the pace.

"Why? Not sure. But it was definitely one of those days, a bit of a frustrating one. So we'll obviously try to understand why and how. It's not like there was a lot of time here or there, it was 🐓just a little bit of lap time everywhere, and you try and try and improve a bit.

“But I ju💧st felt like everything I did, I was not reall🧸y able to gain anything else out of the car.”

Ricciardo revealed he made minor changes to his car overnight but does not feel🧜 that imꦐpacted his qualifying performance.

“We fine-tuned a little bit,” he explained. “But nothing crazy, nothing which should explain being so fa🧸r off today.

“Aꩵnd you obviously change the car to try to be quicker! So we definitely didn't expect this🌄 today.”

But Ricciardo is determined to make up for his Saturday disappointment in the race and hopes having free tyre choice w♐ill play into his hands.

“Obviously the quali is done, so we have to ce🐻rtaꦗinly look to tomorrow,” Ricciardo added.

“The one positive with b🦄eing out in Q2 is you have a free tyre choice. So we'll ꦓobviously try and try and play around a bit there.

“But yeah, it's always a bit confusing from one day to the next, and obviously not🐈 a whole lot ꧃changed today with weather or temperature. But I guess everything's very, very sensitive at the moment."