Ricciardo's tyre troubles hamper Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo faced a challenging race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing in 13th place after struggling with severe tyre graining. The Australian driver's performance was significantly impacted by unexpected tyre issues that plagued his AlphaTauri throughout the race.

Ricciardo started the race on hard tyres, hoping to capitalise on the medium tyre runners' expected early struggles. Initially, the strategy seemed promising as he was able to catch up to the cars ahead. However, the tables quickly turned as Ricciardo's tyres began to suffer from extreme graining.

"It was a tough race," Ricciardo admitted post-race. "The start felt okay; the medium runners in front of me looked like they were struggling, and we were able to catch them. I was on the hard tyre and tried to use it where I could by going long and finding the pace."

The tyre graining issue became increasingly problematic for Ricciardo, causing a dramatic drop in pace. "After a few laps, we picked up a lot of graining, which got worse and worse over 10 laps, causing us to be a few seconds off the pace," he explained. The severity of the problem was unprecedented for the experienced driver, who noted, "I've never experienced graining like that, the swing of lap time was up to four seconds."

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While other teams managed to clear their graining issues relatively quickly, RB struggled to overcome the problem. Ricciardo's pace improved once the graining cleared, but by then, he had lost significant ground to his competitors.

The team's Technical Director, Jody Egginton, acknowledged the difficulties faced during the race. "Daniel's race started okay with the car appearing reasonably well balanced, but was totally dominated by severe tyre graining, leading to a significant drop off in pace and track position," Egginton stated.

Looking ahead, Ricciardo remains optimistic about the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix. "I love the Marina Bay Street Circuit, so hopefully we can have a stronger weekend there," he said.

Team Principal Laurent Mekies emphasized the need for improvement, stating, "Everyone in Faenza and Bicester are working hard to improve in every single area and to introduce more developments soon."

Daniel's Grand Prix by the numbers

• Qualified: 15th
• Race: 13th
• Fastest lap: 1:48.380 on Lap 39
• Points this event: 0
• Points this season: 12 (14th in world championship)