‘Hero to zero’: Disaster for Daniel Ricciardo at Brazil Grand Prix

A brutal detail has been exposed about Daniel Ricciardo’s disaster at the Brazil Grand Prix with the Aussie being given a reality check.

Seventh placed qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren walks in the Pitlane. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images.

Daniel Ricciardo only had himself to blame for a qualifying disaster at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Australian will start Monday morning’s race from P17 after a day of bizarre carnage in Sao Paulo which ended with Max Verstappen claiming pole.

Verstappen will start ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the front row, with Lance Stroll third for Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso will start fourth.

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Ricciardo’s day was over from the start when his flying lap in P1 was derailed by a blunder at Turn 1.

Coming off his spectacular weekend at the Mexico Grand Prix where he qualified P4 and finished seventh, Saturday morning’s qualifying result was a disaster.

Teammate Yuki Tsunoda was P16 with both AlphaTauri drivers missing out on passage to Q2 by less than 0.1 seconds.

In extreme weather, described by Verstappen as “insane”, several drivers struggled to tame the conditions — and Ricciardo was one of them.

Sky Sports Formula 1 analyst Karun Chandhok said Ricciardo had been left “bleeding lap time” because of his costly error at the opening turn heading into the famous Interlagos esses.

Daniel Ricciardo got it wrong and was nowhere near the apex heading into Turn 2. Photo: Fox Sports and Getty.

“Hero to zero here for AlphaTauri after a brilliant qualifying in Mexico,” Chandhok said.

“Daniel got it wrong right at the beginning of the lap heading into the esses and went in there way too deep and completely missed the first apex and that completely ruins his line for the second part because it means he’s on a tighter trajectory for that part there and therefore he’s just bleeding lap time.”

Coming off the Mexico result which piled further pressure on Red Bulll driver Sergio Perez to hold onto the No. 2 seat alongside Verstappen, it was a “sad” result for the veteran driver.

Damn, Ricciardo deserved so much more.. so sad after a great weekend.

— Màtt (@autodrp) November 3, 2023

It was the first time Ricciardo has failed to reach Q3 in Brazil since his first Brazil Grand Prix appearance in 2011.

Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz said after qualifying the AlphaTauri car appears to be particularly unpredictable and said the team has struggled in recent race weekends that have featured a spring race format because it denies the team added time in practice sessions to get the set-up right.

Ricciardo wasn’t making excuses after the session.

“The first run was strong, I think we were definitely a lot faster than the overall time showed,” Ricciardo said.

Seventh placed qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren walks in the Pitlane. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images.

“That last lap I nearly had a spin turn 2, just came in a bit hot into Turn 1, probably didn’t get the tyres into the right spot for the start of the lap.

“So we’d already lost a chunk in the first sector and then little bits and pieces throughout the lap.

“Frustrating because we were definitely faster than that but just a few things didn’t quite work out.”

It was also a hard day for fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri, who spun off the track in Q3.

Piastri will start from P10 after he was unable to complete a lap in Q3.

Piastri was one of the last drivers to get on track in Q3 and never had a chance when the extreme weather intensified dramatically.

It had been carnage across the day of qualifying with Q3 red flagged and an extended break needed earlier in the day to clear debris off the track — caused by extreme winds.

It has gone pitch black and the wind is really strong. Proper take cover time - no more running will take place as the clock ticks down #F1#BrazilGP

— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) November 3, 2023

What a scary 10 minutes on track! A grandstand roof collapsed at the last corner and nearly got decapitated by falling debris! #F1#Formula1#BrazilianGPpic.twitter.com/dWvkpgVweO

— Andy Hone (@andyhone) November 3, 2023

Day turned to night at Interlagos before Max Verstappen was confirmed as pole sitter for Sunday's race #F1#BrazilGPpic.twitter.com/LlUE5V7LEw

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 3, 2023

Teams learned of the order with a message that appeared on their screens confirming a “change in climatic conditions” had forced the FIA stewards to pull the plug.

Leclerc said after the session he’d never seen anything like it.

“In my whole career I have never experienced something like that,” he said.

“From Turn 4 onwards there was no rain. But the car was extremely difficult to drive, no grip.

“I was thinking about coming in at the end of the lap but I finished it and it was P2. So a really good surprise. A very weird one for everyone at the track.”