Ricciardo calls his 2018 qualifying record "pretty bleak"

Daniel Ricciardo admits his qualifying performances have been "pretty bleak" in 2018. The Australian is losing his qualifying duel with Max Verstappen heavily as he approaches the back end of his Red Bull career.

Ricciardo, 29, believes the results have been down to him not understanding his RB14 early enough in the weekend. After the first six races, he won two events in China and Monaco. Since then, he's not been on the podium.

"It's been pretty bleak," Ricciardo told motorsport.

"Maybe I made my own bed in Monaco, because I was like, 'This has been awesome, and this happiness will carry me through the rest of the year'. So, if there is someone who's controlling it all, maybe they took that literally for me!"

On average, Verstappen has been 0.200s ahead of Ricciardo in qualifying. The Renault driver-to-be pins this down to car set-up mistakes.

"In hindsight, I'd like to be more proactive on some things, more set-up," Ricciardo continued.

"I feel like just a lot of the time we understand it, but then it's too late. I guess we're still learning, that's the thing, but obviously, he's been getting more on top of than I have."