Daniel Ricciardo's wide smile took another knock during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix last week. His Renault engine once again caused issues preventing him from going on track in Q2.
The Australian is currently being beaten 13-2 in the team-mate qualifying battle. It was something he wanted to work on during last winter but now puts it down to the fact Max is just better.
"I was not satisfied with last year's qualification, and I thought it would be better at the beginning of this season," Ricciardo told GPfans.
"In any case, I have not shown the maximum, maybe Max is just getting better, I do not know, but I do not think it means that Max shows more balls than I do on the track."
When moving to Renault next year, Ricciardo is keen to sort out some mistakes in his set-up for qualifying.
"I think the problem is hiding in small mistakes in my set-up. For example, I could better ride a section on the track with other settings. Max is doing a lot better now," Ricciardo concluded.