Autosportfoto

F1 Brazilian GP: Ricciardo: Interlagos doesn’t excite me as a track…

Daniel Ricciardo says despite his best efforts to charge his Red Bull up the grid in qualifying he is failing to gel with the Interlagos circuit and says 'it doesn't excite me that much'.

The Australia driver has openly admitted the Brazilian Grand Prix is one he's always found difficult in F1, with just one points finish in five attempts (10th in 2013), and his troubles have continued this weekend as he lines up sixth on the grid behind both Mercedes and Ferrari cars plus team-mate Max Verstappen.

Ricciardo says his best qualifying lap wasn't the cleanest of the race weekend plus the Red Bull is still lacking outright power up the long and uphill pit straight but one of his biggest problems is the track itself which he struggles to attack compared to others on the F1 calendar.

"It doesn't excite me that much, to be honest," Ricciardo said. "I shouldn't say that because it is not like I don't try, but it is very easy at turn 8 and 10 to lock the front brake.

"I thought that is what held me back on the last lap because I was probably thinking about that too much, and being too under it. I just braked too early, too conservative."

Ricciardo says the new kerbs have helped him get a better feeling for the track but conceded he wasn't able to dial in a perfect qualifying lap.

"I didn't enjoy the track as much last year because they put these big kerbs and it was, it sounds silly but for a race driver kerbs are really important," he said. "They can really change the track. To this day, back when I raced go karts, out of all the tracks that I raced on, my favourite track was one that had the best kerbs where you could really bounce around.

"This year they have changed the kerbs and that, and you can sort of get on them a bit. It feels more like a race track so in saying that I have enjoyed it more this year around. I did feel like I got on top of it a bit better. And I felt that I did have it in me to be a bit quicker."

Having cemented his third place in the F1 drivers' championship for 2016, Ricciardo is solely focusing on rostrums or potential wins over the final two races to ensure Red Bull takes the runner-up spot in the F1 world constructors' championship over Ferrari.

Zdroj: crash.net