Ricciardo speaks of disappointment after tough weekend in Spain

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo has spoken of his disappointment after missing out on the points at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Renault driver, who had high hopes of a top-10 finish in Barcelona, crossed the line in 11th place after starting from 13th on the grid.

With most drivers on a two-stop strategy, Ricciardo struggled for pace on a one-stop approach as tyre degradation became an issue.

Ricciardo’s teammate Esteban Ocon ended the race in 13th place.

“It was tough today and certainly not where we want to be,” Ricciardo said.

“At every race up until now, we’ve had at least one car in the points, so this is the first one without it. It was a pretty difficult race and making the one-stop work was difficult.

“Obviously, it’s a bit disappointing as we came here expecting much more, especially after two decent races last time out.

“We didn’t expect to have a difficult weekend, but it was very tight out there.

“We were close to the top 10 in qualifying and in the race, so we’ll try and find out where we lost those couple of tenths and move on to the next race.”

The race was won by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton – who eclipsed Michael Schumacher for most Formula 1® podium appearances – followed by Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

Formula 1® returns next for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa on 18-30 August.