New Saudi GP footage helps explain Daniel Ricciardo’s latest poor race

Daniel Ricciardo in action for RB.
The talk surrounding Daniel Ricciardo’s rough start to F1 2024 intensified after a P16 finish in Saudi Arabia, though a huge contributor to that outside of his control was initially missed.
Ricciardo is using the 2024 campaign as an audition with Red Bull’s junior outfit to chase a return to the main team in 2025, should Red Bull decide not to renew the contract of Sergio Perez.
Daniel Ricciardo suffers 41-second pit stop
However, the opening rounds of the season have proven alarming in regards to Ricciardo’s goals, having been outqualified in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda as well as finishing P16 and a place behind the Japanese racer at the Saudi Arabian GP. Ricciardo finished one spot ahead of Tsunoda in Bahrain after team orders came into play.
Perez meanwhile has made the perfect start in his bid to secure a new Red Bull deal with a pair of P2 finishes, but as the talk began to grow louder over whether Ricciardo is destined for disappointment on his Red Bull comeback mission, footage emerged from the Saudi Arabian GP which takes a huge weight off his shoulders.
Untelevised on-board footage shows Ricciardo falling victim to a horrendous pit stop at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with the time he spent stationary in his pit box timed at 41 seconds due to a problem fitting his new race tyres.
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Ricciardo alluded to this pit stop when speaking to the Formula 1 website post-race, at which point it was not apparent just how severely this had affected his Saturday evening, though the Aussie admitted improvement is needed and it is “quite clear” how to achieve it, with Ricciardo having also spun at Turn 1 late in the race, that all of his own doing.
“Tough weekend,” he admitted. “I think the only thing that’s probably keeping me a little bit optimistic now is we did find a few things, so that’s positive.
“Because I’ve driven a long time, I know when things don’t feel quite right, but on the one hand, it’s nice to find a few things, but on another, it meant that it was a pretty painful weekend, so that’s obviously frustrating.
“The race was tough. I think coming into it we knew it would be tough, then we had a slow pit stop and then a few laps from the end I ate a bit too much kerb in Turn 1 and had a spin, that kind of summed up the weekend.
“But we’ve got a week off now, so Melbourne will be better. I know we’ll fix it and have an even playing field and a strong showing.
“It feels like it’s been a pretty slow start to the year. But it’s been two races. I know how quickly this thing can turn around.
“As I said, there’s not too much head scratching now. It was just a frustrating weekend. But it’s not that we don’t have answers. I think it’s quite clear.
“So we’ve just got to polish her up and make sure it’s good to go for Melbourne.”
RB sit P9 in the early F1 2024 Constructors’ standings, yet to put a point on the board.
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