‘I won’t give them the time of day’ – Ricciardo delighted to hit back at criticism with top-5 qualifying in Canada

Daniel Ricciardo silenced critics of his performances so far in 2024 with a storming drive in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, claiming a shock fifth on the grid for RB.

Ten years to the day that he’d recorded the first of his eight Formula 1 victories, Ricciardo was looking confident throughout qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, joining his team mate Yuki Tsunoda in Q3 before finishing P5 to Tsunoda’s P8 – Ricciardo just 0.178s behind the identical 1m 12.000s lap times of pole-sitter George Russell and Max Verstappen.

READ MORE: Russell clinches pole position in Canada with identical time to Verstappen in closely-fought qualifying

The strong result came on the same day that Tsunoda was offered an extension to his contract at RB – the Japanese driver having outscored Ricciardo 19 points to five so far this year – and a day after 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve had made comments to Sky Sports F1 questioning why Ricciardo was “still in F1”.

“I’ve just been told [about the comments],” Ricciardo said. “I don’t listen or read but… yeah, there’s definitely some people out there who… Yeah, whatever. I won’t give them the time of day, but yeah, top five, been quick all weekend, we’re less than two-tenths from pole so… eat s***!”

Meanwhile Ricciardo – who also took a P4 in Sprint Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix earlier this year – said he was “not surprised” by the top-five result in Canada.

“I’m very pleased, I’m pretty jacked certainly,” he said. “It’s been a really good weekend, it’s been one of those weekends where I certainly haven’t really had any doubts. It’s one of those ones where everything’s been feeling good.

READ MORE: Tsunoda to stay as RB driver for 2025 with latest seat on the grid confirmed

“I think [in] all conditions, mixed conditions, I feel like we’ve been a top-six car from the get-go. It’s nice to put the lap together in Q3, but I’m not surprised.

“I know when I feel like this, I can do things like this, so it’s just trying to get myself in this place more often and obviously that’s what I’ve been missing this year. But when I get it right, it goes pretty right.

“I feel like since we put the car on the track, we’ve both been pretty comfortable,” added Ricciardo. “I think Yuki was struggling a bit more through the weekend but he got it together in quali, but I’ve been honestly really happy all weekend with the car, so that helps.

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“But it’s just a track I enjoy, and 10 years ago to the day that changed my life, my first win here, so there’s always just that feel-good factor coming back.

“But the track’s great, it’s kind of like a go-kart track, the way we wrestle the cars over the kerbs – it reminds us probably a little bit of our childhood. So, a lot of good things!”