Ricciardo blames bad luck for early qualifying exit

The Red Bull driver had been hoping to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari at the front, but in the end will line up just 12th after being caught out by the weather and a spinning Lance Stroll.

Having just scraped through Q1, Ricciardo was out of luck in the second session after being slowed by yellow flags brought out for Stroll, before deteriorating weather conditions meant there was no chance to improve.

Speaking about what happened, Ricciardo told TV crews: "The rain came, the first guy on track was getting the best track and then it got worse and worse, not only to be further in the pack but you also needed to get that first lap in.

"Stroll spun in front of me, I had to abort that lap and the following lap was too wet for the inter. The last sector was just trying to survive.

"So we had to put the extreme on and the track was nowhere near what it was at the beginning. The first lap had to count and we had the guy in front so I was just unlucky."

Although Ricciardo managed to get through Q1 with a late effort, he admitted that it had been too close a call in opting for softs on a drying track.

"We took a risk in Q1 to use the soft," he said. "In hindsight for sure we would go on the ultra and just be safe because that was too close.

"We did have a soft to use for Q1 in dry conditions. It was in the plan, but if it wasn't against the plan then it was closer than we wanted it to be."

Pole position man Lewis Hamilton said he understood Ricciardo's frustrations because the ever-changing weather conditions meant anyone could have suffered a similar fate.

"It could've gone wrong for all of us," he said. "I don't know what their scenario was, if it was done due to timing. I think our team did an exceptional job today, they brought their A-game in these conditions.

"I guess that's why you hear Bono's voice afterwards, because it was so nerve-wracking for them. They're always trying to do their best, all the teams are."