‘I needed to pick it up’ – Ricciardo’s ‘head held high’ after Belgian GP as he reflects on improved form

Daniel Ricciardo was pleased to have a spring in his step after the Belgian Grand Prix, with the Australian feeling that the race was a continuation of his improved run of form following a difficult start to the season.

Having been the only driver to start the race on the soft tyre, Ricciardo pitted early and also undercut some of his rivals by doing the same for his second stop.

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While Alpine’s Esteban Ocon overtook him later on for 10th place – meaning that Ricciardo missed out on points in 11th – George Russell’s post-race disqualification promoted the RB driver up a position, meaning that he ultimately came away with one point.

Speaking after the Grand Prix – and before Russell’s DSQ was confirmed – Ricciardo still sounded a positive note about his afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps, with the 35-year-old heralding what he felt was a “really strong race”.

Asked if he was happy with his performance, Ricciardo responded: “I am. It’s kind of like yesterday, I was actually really quite pleased with what we did. It just unfortunately wasn’t good enough to get rewarded. Sometimes 11th is quite cruel – one point for us is a big deal.

“Every point counts in this midfield battle. I feel like we did a really strong race, but unfortunately some other guys also did a strong race. We had 10th with a few laps to go, but Ocon was… I do think Ocon was just genuinely a bit quicker and he had a bit of a fresher tyre as well.

“We tried to hold on but, yeah, a few laps short. A shame but also sometimes you can only do the best you can, and I think for that we leave here – [from] the whole weekend as a whole – with a smile and head held high.”

Reflecting back on the first half of the 2024 campaign ahead of the summer break, Ricciardo stated that he “definitely” felt that he had been getting stronger and stronger in recent races following some difficult times earlier on.

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“I would have loved the whole first half [of the season] to have been strong – it wasn’t the case,” the eight-time race winner explained. “I obviously had my struggles in the first kind of half of [this] half, and it was clear I needed to pick it up and find something.

“[When] I look back, since Montreal, the pressure probably started to build, [but] – other than Silverstone, which was a bit of an outlier – I feel like the races have been much more in line with what I’m capable of, and I feel like I’m leaving the weekend feeling much more content, fulfilled.

“It’s important I was able to do that, and [it] leaves me entering the break with much more of a spring in my step. Looking ahead, yeah, [I’m] excited. Excited to get back and get out there in Zandvoort.”

Team mate Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, had his work cut out for the race in Belgium after starting from the back of the grid owing to engine penalties. The Japanese driver opted for a one-stop strategy and ended the event in 17th, which subsequently became 16th following Russell’s disqualification.

Speaking after the race, Tsunoda joked: “Considering I started from Zandvoort, I think ending up P17 is not bad! But yeah, all race we didn’t have pace overall.

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“Seems like there’s something in the car, from what I heard from the engineer. I didn’t hear exact feedback yet, but hopefully we can sort it out, because throughout the week I was struggling quite a lot with the car and everything.

“Also [the] strategy didn’t work, but yeah, starting from that position [we] had to do something [to] gamble but it didn’t pay off. Hopefully main priority is just to learn something from this race, especially [because] I wanted to make sure our car is all aligned because it wasn’t. I don’t think it’s still fully fixed yet, before Zandvoort hopefully we can sort out everything.”

For now, Tsunoda’s focus is on using the summer break to ready himself for the races ahead in the second portion of the year.

“I think just rest, I would say,” he said of his plans. “Rest and obviously prepare for the second half of the season, for the physical side as well.”