Ricciardo disappointed after race: 'I suddenly lost power'

Daniel Ricciardo is still searching for his form. In Spielberg things did not go as planned. After a mediocre qualifying, in which he was beaten by team mate Lando Norris, his start in the race was okay. After that the Australian lost some power, after which he eventually finished 13th.

Again no points for the McLaren driver, who sees Norris doing well in the championship with 86 points in fourth place, just behind Sergio Perez. Ricciardo is ninth with 34 points, not even half the points that the young Briton has collected this season. To Sky Sports he was therefore critical of himself. Yet he also knows he was not lucky on Sunday.

"It was a really unlucky race. We went from thirteenth to eighth, a great start, a great first lap, we were in such a strong position ahead of a lot of our 'faster' rivals and on the medium tyres, so we were in a good position." Then, however, things went wrong for both Norris and Ricciardo for a moment.

"Then suddenly I lost power, so any position I gained I then just lost it again. We were able to fix it on the track, it was a control problem, but then it was too late and I was back in the mess I had come out of on the first lap well. Then you're in traffic and a train and frankly the race is over after that. It's definitely disheartening, but out of our control. I look at the positions and I was ahead of Sainz with the same strategy and he finished sixth, so I think we could have finished sixth today."

Not yet known what McLaren's problem was

At McLaren, however, they still haven't figured out what caused him and Norris to suddenly lose power. "I don't know exactly what it is yet. I know a lot of cars were looking for fresh air to cool down, so it could be temperature related. If I had to make a wild guess right now, that's what I'd say, but honestly I'm not sure.

"It's obviously heartbreaking for me and disheartening, but I'm not the only one feeling this pain," Ricciardo continued. "Obviously the weekend went from bad to worse and I'm looking forward to getting out of here and coming back next week with a fresh approach."

He doesn't have to travel far as there will also be racing next weekend in Spielberg, Austria. The GP of Austria is scheduled, with many more fans in attendance than this weekend. An ideal moment for Ricciardo and his crew to take revenge.