Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo achieved his best qualifying result for Renault with an enormous fourth place in qualifying.
It is his best performance so far in qualifying on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit of the Belgian Grand Prix and is on par with his performance at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
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With Ricciardo in fourth place and Esteban Ocon in sixth place, Renault also posted on Twitter that this was “our best qualifying result since we returned as a works team”.
After the first quarter, Ricciardo, who had the fastest time to pass the Mercedes when the Renault was pushed back to seventh place, threatened to derail his qualifying before another big lap in the second quarter before a problem with “brake by wire” threatened.
Fortunately, there were no problems in the third quarter when Ricciardo drove one lap and got the third fastest start to the session behind the two Mercedes before Max Verstappen pushed him back to fourth place on the last lap of the session.
But Ricciardo will compete on the second row of the grid alongside former Red Bull team-mate Verstappen.
Sky Sports ‘Martin Brundle was impressed with the Aussies’ performance.
“That’s the kind of performance he’s threatened since the first practice session on Friday morning,” he said. “He was really in good shape.”
Ricciardo even pulled back from his final lap, but the field was breathing down his throat too, and the rest of the top 10 were within 0.6 seconds of his time behind him.
The Aussie was delighted with the result, his bright smile still showing behind his face mask.
“I’m very happy with the qualification, I was very happy all weekend,” said Ricciardo. “We showed really good speed yesterday and last year these seemed to be our strong tracks, the lower downforce – Spa, Monza – and it seems like we did it again this year. Pretty lucky that it’s pretty fun here when you have a lap. “
Ricciardo said he was hoping for a dry race, despite the 60 percent chance of rain. And if it stays dry, he thinks he has a good chance of giving the top three a run for their money.
“I think we have a real chance at the start of the race and I think I could defend for a while if I had to, that’s the plan,” he said. “Try to do a few better at the start, and hold your elbows.”
Ask about the tattoo for Cyril Abiteboul if he’s on a podium. Ricciardo said he didn’t want to outdo himself but would likely do something spontaneous, though he said “a honey badger on the back” – Simon Lazenby’s suggestion – was “a good one”.
Ricciardo had already made great efforts this weekend after finishing second in race two ahead of Hamilton and behind Verstappen on Friday.
The Brake by Wire edition was the second edition of the weekend after a hydraulic edition stopped the Aussie on Friday.
Hamilton was in a league of its own again and set the course record on the way to another pole position.
After the race, he spoke on team radio and dedicated his performance to actor Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther actor who had died of colon cancer today at the age of 43.
“That was for Chadwick Boseman – rest in peace,” said Hamilton on team radio.
Hamilton spoke after taking pole position, admitting Boseman’s death was hard to hear.
“Today is a really important bar for me because I woke up to the saddest news of Chadwick’s death and it was such a difficult year for all of us,” he said.
“This news really only broke me. It really wasn’t easy to focus on the basics again today, but I thought I have to get out there and drive to perfection because what he’s done for our people, what he’s done for superheroes, it all shows these little kids, that it is possible. He was such a shining light. Wakanda forever. “
While Renault achieved a brilliant qualifying result, well above its place on the constructors’ ladder, Ferrari’s rapid decline has continued, with both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel lining up on the seventh row, after finishing second and 13th. Quarter were eliminated each place.
After finishing the last practice session with Leclerc in 17th and Vettel in 20th, it was believed that the Ferraris wouldn’t even make it out of first qualifying, but the couple barely made it through.
After the meeting, Leclerc said on team radio: “There is not much more I can do” before he elaborated on it in a subsequent interview.
“It is difficult to find an explanation. We have to find the problem, ”he said.
“It is very difficult in difficult times like these, but we drivers will try to have the best possible race and we will not expect miracles.”
Sebastian Vettel added: “It’s the real picture – it’s what the car can do. We did a little better than yesterday, but today it’s no surprise. “
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX STARTING GRILL
Row 1 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
Row 2 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)
Row 3 – Alexander Albon (Red Bull) – Esteban Ocon (Renault)
Row 4 – Carlos Sainz (McLaren) – Sergio Perez (race point)
Row 5 – Lance Stroll (Race Point) – Lando Norris (McLaren)
Row 6 – Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) – Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
Row 7 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Row 8 – George Russell (Williams) – Kimi Räikkönen (AlfaRomeo)
Row 9 – Romain Grosjean (Haas) – Antonio Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo)
Row 10 – Nicholas Latifi (Williams) – Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
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