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MELBOURNE : Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of a happy return to Albert Park after missing last year’s Australian Grand Prix suffered a major blow on Saturday as the RB driver failed to make it out of the first session of qualifying.
The Western Australian’s fastest lap of Q1 was deleted by stewards for exceeding track limits at turn five and he will start 18th of 19 cars on the grid in Sunday’s race.
The lap, set too late in the session to post another, would have put him safely through to Q2.
It was another crushing moment for Ricciardo at his home grand prix and comes 10 years after he finished runner-up for Red Bull behind Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg only to be disqualified for a fuel breach.
“I was certainly all over it trying to keep it on track but obviously trying to find the time that we’ve been struggling to find all weekend,” said Ricciardo, who was a frustrated reserve driver for Red Bull at Albert Park last year.
“And I felt like the lap was all I had. So that was salt in the wounds.”
Ricciardo has now been outqualified in all three races this season by less experienced team mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Whoever wins the season-long duel between the pair could be in the running for a coveted racing seat at Red Bull in 2025, with Sergio Perez out of contract next year.
Tsunoda, who qualified eighth on Saturday behind Red Bull’s pole-sitter Max Verstappen, definitely has his nose in front.
Home fans will now pin their hopes on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ending the long wait for an Australian on the podium in Melbourne.
Piastri qualified sixth, two places behind team mate Lando Norris, and rued a “messy”, mistake-laden Q3.
The Melbourne man said he hoped the soft tyre setup at Albert Park might give them a chance of edging their rivals with a good strategy but it would be tough to get past the Red Bulls and Ferraris in front of him on the grid.
“Mixed feelings,” he said.
“I feel like there was maybe a little bit more on the table today which is a bit of a shame.”
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