Ricciardo blames wind change for slow Q3 run

The Aussie was a second off the pace after a mistake on his first flyer in Q3, and while he improved on his second run, he could only finish fifth, more than three tenths off teammate Max Verstappen.

"The first lap in Q3, I messed up Turn 1 and lost a bit there - and the rest of the lap was okay, but it's not nice when you mess up on a long lap the first corner," Ricciardo said. "Then the last run, I think it was actually a pretty good lap.

"Looked like the wind changed, we lost quite a bit of time on the straight and second sector - I thought I was doing quite well, but compared to my delta, my laptime from the lap before, I didn't actually gain that much. I was a bit confused 'cause I felt a lot quicker.

"But, yeah, speaking to the boys on the other side of the garage, just seemed like the wind turned around. I'm not conviced track was better that second run, but I think generally the lap was okay.

"I wasn't particularly quick or comfortable on the supersoft on one lap," he added. "Generally, not really that disappointed with qualifying - I'd be more disappointed if I didn't make the softs work in Q2."

"But because we just got through with that, that was what I wanted to do. Of course, better than fifth would've been nice - but if we're quick, we can still do something from there.

"It's where I've started two years ago," Riccardo said, referring to his victory in the 2014 Belgian GP. "It can work if you're quick enough."

Strategy

Ricciardo also explained his reasoning for picking softs as his starting tyre while teammate Verstappen opted for the supersofts.

"We talked about maybe doing two different strategies, and then they asked us what we wanted to do, and we both wanted to do different strategies," Ricciardo said.

"Obviously, Max thinks his will work, I think mine will work. [Nico] Rosberg and both Ferraris think supersoft is the better tyre to start the race.

"I just think the supersoft is a bit more inconclusive. It can work, but if it doesn't, it can lose you quite a lot of laptime. There's some blistering and some things happening with the tyres, which you can't quite predict.

"For me, the soft was a little bit of a safer option - and I think that's why we have gone for that.

"The supersoft isn't going to last mucn more than a handful of laps. The soft should have - I wouldn't say double - but it should have a good chunk more than the supersoft. If it changes from a three- to a two-stop race, I don't know if it's that powerful.

"Rosberg did a very good time with the softs  - a [1m]46.9, I think - so it's not that much slower. Over a stint, I think it's a better tyre."