Daniel Ricciardo ruins Red Bull rival with qualifying masterclass

Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo delivered his best qualifying result of the season and in the process emphatically silenced a rival.

Daniel Ricciardo ruined Sergio Perez's qualy

Daniel Ricciardo saved his best for when it mattered most as he produced throughout qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The 34-year-old Aussie secured his first appearance in Q3 and in one stunning moment, ruined a Red Bull rival.

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Ricciardo has long been linked to the seat alongside three-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen and on Sunday (AEST) he got one over Sergio Perez.

The Visa CashApp RB driver knocked Perez out of the top 10 with his final lap around the Imola circuit, but it was Perez who had the final say.

The Red Bull driver had the final lap of the session, but he couldn’t get it done as he finished 0.015s behind the Aussie, handing him 11th place on the grid.

Ricciardo ultimately ended up securing a 9th place start for the race, two places behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

He said he was still “struggling quite a bit” on the first sector but otherwise saw it as a “positive day” for the team as a whole.

“Qualifying was a better session for me, we made some progress from the start of the weekend as we were struggling a bit more than Yuki,” he said.

“In every lap I did, I was always trying to find a bit more here and there, but the first sector is still the part where I’m struggling quite a lot. That’s where the lap got away from me but we’ll keep looking at it tonight to understand more, and I’ll work on it.”

A happy Danny Ric after qualifying. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Perez wasn’t happy after qualifying came to an end and said the team had been playing with the car quite a bit and he got caught out in the middle session.

“We have been playing up and down with the car a lot. Going into Qualifying with the small margins, Q1 I started quite badly because I had a poor lap but in the end it turned out we were safe.

“This meant we started Q2 with scrubbed tyres. Once we put the new tyre on in the second run, I surprinsgly picked up a lot of rear grip and got caught up with it.

“Going into Turn Seven I went straight and lost two-and-a-half tenths.”

It wasn’t to be for Perez. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

It was a mixture of emotions for fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri after he produced a scintillating Q3 lap to nab second place on the grid.

His celebrations were short-lived however as a three-place grid penalty was handed down to the Aussie following an incident that unfolded in Q1 when he appeared to impede Haas’ Kevin Magnussen while he was on a hot lap.

The penalty means Piastri will now take his place on the grid behind the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

“So, so close to pole … very happy with how this weekend’s going so far,” Piastri said.

“I think yes (we can fight for more tomorrow),” he added. “I think no, we’ve said in the past.

“I think the confidence is high that we can do something good.”

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Grid

Front row: Max Verstappen, Lando Norris

Second row: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz

Third row: Oscar Piastri, George Russell

Fourth row: Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton

Fifth row: Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg

Sixth row: Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon

Seventh row: Lance Stroll, Alex Albon

Eighth row: Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas

Ninth row: Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen

Tenth row: Fernando Alonso, Lance Sargeant