Red Bull duo bemoan ‘frustrating’ qualifying

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo are both leaving Interlagos feeling disappointed after being unable get on a par with Mercedes and Ferrari in qualifying.

Verstappen finished over six tenths off the pace set by pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas, good enough for P4 on the grid, but the Dutchman conceded that he has been battling with the car all weekend thus far.

"Well, I think we maximised the result, but pleased? No, not really," Verstappen said in the paddock.

"All weekend we've just been chasing the car balance and we couldn't get it together. I never expected to beat Ferrari or Mercedes on this track.

"You know, it's simply not our track with the longer straights, but we did the best we could, we maximised the result, but it wasn't good enough."

Ricciardo, meanwhile, qualified in P5, but a 10-place grid drop because of an engine penalty leaves him toward the back of the field.

"I think I'm going to start 14th or 15th, by the sounds of it," said Ricciardo.

"Q3 with the Super Softs, I couldn't really get much out of it. The last set I'm a bit suspect about, we left the pits and there were vibrations on the tyres and it was giving me no grip on the front-left, so frustrating.

"All the top guys did I think five runs on a Super Soft [tyre set], and we did three."

But Ricciardo believes that a longer first stint on Sunday could be his saving grace in Brazil.

"I'm happy to start the race on the Softs, it means we could maybe be stronger at the end [of the race] on new Super Softs," he added.

"To be honest, I feel better on the softs, I kind of feel like I wish we had Softs for Q3.

"There's not really a whole lot of answers right now, but we just keep trying to figure it out.

“我总是诚实的,如果我觉得我疯狂的ked up or overdrove it or was just driving like an idiot then I'll say so, but I definitely don't feel like that."