Australia: Costly qualifying hurts Daniel’s home hopes

A track limits breach in qualifying in Melbourne leaves Daniel on his back foot at Albert Park, recovering to 12th place.

Race data

Australia (Round 3 of 24), 22-24 March, 2024
Albert Park, 5.278km, 58 laps
Qualified: 18th
Finished: 12th
Laps per position: 12th (3 laps), 13th (26 laps), 14th (4 laps), 15th (3 laps), 16th (9 laps), 17th (7 laps), 18th (5 laps)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 5 (soft/hard), lap 29 (hard/hard)
Fastest lap: 1min 21.239secs (13th), lap 46
Points this event: 0
Points this season: 0 (17th in world championship)

Daniel's download

“I tried to make the most of today. It’s nice there were moments in the race where I did have pace and I was able to show I can still get some good stints in there. It was still good to get the laps. There are things through the race where I’ll mark.

“We have a button the steering wheel I can use as a reference to say, ‘that lap I felt something there’. There were – I’m not giving away secret information – things so I remember to tell the engineers after. There were a few points through the race that I marked. It’s good to get the understanding, the data gathering and all that.

“Obviously the weekend I would’ve loved to have gone better, but I think we’ve just got to keep our eyes on the prize. It hasn’t been the best three races to start the season, for sure. Especially with the preparation I had coming into the season it’s definitely not where I expected to be. But it’s certainly not something that we’re going to get rattled by or anything. We’ve just got to stay on course and I’m sure we’ll find it.

“I wouldn’t say there’s any panic. I would’ve loved this season to have started better, but we’ll just keep digging. I think we will find something. It thought it would’ve been this weekend. Maybe it’s next, and if it’s not the next, then we’ll keep going until it happens. It will happen.

“Qualifying sucked for sure and even today I would love to have been in the points, but the weekend as a whole, I've got nothing to be upset about. There were a few years ago when I thought I was drained and leaving this a bit frustrated. The preparation got hindered. I certainly didn’t have any of that this week. I think everyone was awesome and the crowd was, so no excuses or weird feelings. It was a little bit of a busy schedule this week. I think we still managed it well and it is nice to be racing at home.”

DR’s race recap

* Qualified 18th after having his best lap in Q1 deleted for a track limits infringement at Turn 5, and ended lap 1 in 18th place after starting on soft tyres.
* Pitted on lap 5 for hard tyres and rejoined in 18th place.
* Advanced to 15th before pitting on lap 29 for hard tyres, rejoined in 18th place.
* Passed Ocon/Alpine on lap 38, advanced to 14th.
* Moved to 13th when Gasly/Alpine pitted on lap 41.
* Promoted to 12th on lap 57 after Russell/Mercedes crash.
* Finished 12th, one lap down on race-winner Sainz/Ferrari, and 6secs behind Albon/Williams in 11th.

DR’s next destination

Round 4: Japan (Suzuka), 7 April
Japan in 2022 (most recent race): qualified 11th, finished 11th
In F1: 10 races, 48 points, 1 podium, 5 points finishes, 0 DNFs, 1 DQ
Best finish: 3rd (2017)