Ricciardo: It was probably miscommunication

In hindsight, Daniel Ricciardo says it was “miscommunication” that led to his rant about being stitched up in an unfair qualifying session.

Ricciardo was used during qualifying for the Austrian GP to aid Max Verstappen by punching a hole in the air to give his team-mate a boost.

The Aussie was not impressed.

“We had three runs and we were just punching a hole for everyone. I’m not that happy at all,” he said after qualifying seventh to Verstappen’s P4.

“We could have been more fair.”

However having spoken with the team and team principal Christian Horner in the hours after qualifying, he concedes that a strategy conversation prior to qualifying would have saved them all a headache.

“I’ve had a few discussions since with Christian, with my engineer,” he told reporters.

“(I) probably should have just talked about it more beforehand.

“I had concerns and I spoke a little bit with my engineer about it, but I guess as a team it wasn’t discussed.

“But in my mind, in the car, I’m just like, ‘It’s obvious what’s happening, isn’t it? Give me a run where I’m getting a tow instead of giving everyone else a tow’.

“It was probably miscommunication.”

Asked whether he still felt like he had been stiched up by Red Bull, Ricciardo replied: “During the heat of it all, I thought so.”