Ricciardo: Weight saving on drink made Miami even tougher

All groups are struggling to save lots of weight with their 2022 vehicles, and the Australian revealed that he’d had much less fluid in his drinks bottle than he would have preferred within the circumstances.

He struggled for tempo for a lot of the afternoon, and even a late swap to smooth tyres through the security automotive interval that was triggered by his staff mate Lando Norris did not assist a lot.

He crossed the road in eleventh place, however was demoted to thirteenth by a time penalty after going off observe and gaining a bonus whereas battling with Kevin Magnussen.

Like different drivers after the race, Ricciardo clearly confirmed the results of a busy afternoon within the Florida humidity.

“Yeah, it is obtained that warmth issue to it,” Ricciardo stated when requested by Motorsport.com if Miami in comparison with races like Singapore and Malaysia. “It is robust as nicely, as a result of I imply, everybody’s clearly preventing for that final little bit of weight.

“So we do not have the posh of placing three litres within the drink system. So we now have slightly bit, and it is by no means sufficient fluid. So naturally, you are gonna get dehydrated. And yeah, this warmth was was fairly actual.

“They’re the robust ones, clearly. I imply, everybody clearly labored laborious at this time, it’s scorching, drivers, mechanics, everybody’s feeling the warmth.”

On the finish of the race, Ricciardo thought that he simply made the factors, and solely came upon later that he was eleventh on the street, previous to getting the penalty.

“Truly once I crossed the road, I truthfully thought I used to be tenth,” he stated. “It is laborious to know, clearly [there are] battles and vehicles going off right here and there. However I used to be sort of doing a calculation in my head considering that sufficient vehicles had sort of gone off, or I handed, to be someplace contained in the factors.

“However yeah, we got here up brief. So I do not suppose there have been any ‘what may have beens’ at this time? We have been simply not fast sufficient. We have been simply hanging on. And I feel when everybody’s in a tow, we’re nonetheless missing a bit on the straights. I feel clearly slightly little bit of a drag and stuff.”

Ricciardo had hoped that the late swap to smooth tyres would give him a lift, however whereas he did cross a couple of vehicles, finally it made little distinction.

“I used to be actually extra excited for the protection automotive,” he stated. “There have been some vehicles in entrance on outdated hards. And for me, I could not actually get the laborious going. It did not really feel like an awesome tyre for me.

“So I used to be considering we have been going to have one thing to indicate. I used to be sort of hanging with them, however not likely sufficient to make an impression. Ultimately, in all probability simply not fast sufficient.”

After the flag, Ricciardo admitted that he did not know why he had been penalised.

“I simply noticed on the classification that I used to be thirteenth as an alternative of eleventh, nonetheless no factors. I bear in mind being side-by-side a couple of instances with Haases, and truly felt like we have been having some good battles.

“Sadly, it is not for a high 5 or something. I am unsure why I am displaying as thirteenth. However I will look into it. However after all the massive image is it does not change my race.”

Ricciardo is hopeful that the following observe in Barcelona is extra suited to McLaren.

“It is nonetheless laborious to say. However I actually hope it is higher than this weekend, we have been actually a bit extra on the again foot.

“And it felt slightly bit extra like a final yr sort of wrestle. A few of these races, like Zandvoort, this circuit has some similarities, sort of lengthy corners, and preventing for one level final yr.

“And this type of felt like an identical race, the place we have been sort of there, however by no means actually sufficient to make make an enormous impression. So might be higher. [Barcelona] was a greater circuit for me final yr, so hopefully which means one thing.”