Daniel Ricciardo slams 'stupid' team timing error
ByAutoSport
Updated 27/05/2017 at 16:08 GMT
Daniel Ricciardo believes a "stupid, silly error" from his Red Bull team cost him a shot at pole position for Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Red Bull Racing in parc ferme during qualifying for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco on May 27, 2017 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Image credit: Getty Images
The Australian, who took pole for the race last year, was hopeful that Red Bull could fight Ferrari at the front of the field in qualifying, but he had to settle for fifth place after being released from the pits into traffic when it counted in Q3.
"We knew we needed to go hard on the out-laps, to get a clear lap out of the pits to warm the tyres up," said Ricciardo. "We came out in traffic, basically. I couldn't push on the out-lap on the last run. It seemed like we had 20 seconds to Perez behind me so I don't know why we didn't go in that gap.
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Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Red Bull Racing prepares to drive in the garage during qualifying for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco on May 27, 2017 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Image credit: Getty Images
"Why we went out in traffic when we knew we needed a hard out lap, that was a pretty obvious mistake. I don't know why we didn't wait to put me out in clear air - unless the time was going down and we weren't going to make it, which I don't think was the case. I believe we had all the time we needed. It just seemed like we made a stupid, silly error."
Ricciardo famously lost victory in Monaco last year when his team made a mess of a pitstop, and this latest mistake looks to have cost him a chance of trying to put that right this season.
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Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer on track during qualifying for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco on May 27, 2017 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Image credit: Getty Images
"It seems like sometimes the intensity of Monaco makes you lose a bit of concentration and make what seem to be pretty obvious errors," he said. "It's not intentional, it's just frustrating. We underachieved way too much and this race is an opportunity for us to do much better than that.
"We could have challenged everyone, but that means nothing now because we're not there. We were very far from the potential, so that's the frustrating part. This is the one that you don't want to make silly or simple errors at. You want to put more emphasis on Saturday than Sunday here, it's not the day you want to make those errors."
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