P1racenews AI automatic summary:
RB must give Ricciardo an F1 car "he’s more comfortable with"
Daniel Ricciardo had a challenging start to the Melbourne event, qualifying 18th due to losing his final Q1 lap to track limits. Despite canceling a good lap, he expressed being “puzzled” as teammate Yuki Tsunoda excelled to Q3 for the second time in 2024. In the race, Ricciardo improved to 12th position, benefitting from attrition issues with Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas, while Tsunoda finished impressively in seventh place. The RB F1 Team remains fully supportive of Ricciardo, aiming to tailor the VCARB 01 car to his comfort and performance needs. CEO Peter Bayer emphasizes that Ricciardo was hard on himself in assessing his qualifying performance and applauds his strong race from a challenging starting position. The team acknowledges the improvements made by Ricciardo in the race and is optimistic about building on his performance in the upcoming races.
