Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after only qualifying sixth for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday, being at a lo🧜ss for an answer as to why his pace dipped in the final Q3 shootout.

Ricciardo set ꦜthe fastest time in Q1 and was competitive again in Q2, appearing to put himself in the fight for pole position, only to then finish Q3 almost a second behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton down in P6.

Teammate Max Verstappen managed to secure second🍒 place on the grid despite dealing with an engine issuꦚe throughout the session, going six-tenths of a second faster than Ricciardo.

While Ricciardo said he had a minor engine problem through the session, he stressed it had 🅘not been the cause of his dip in pace, for which he still had no definitivᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe answer.

“To be honest, we had a little bit [of engine issues] but it wasn’t the reason why we dropped so much pace in qualifying. Right now I honestl🍃♑y don’t have an answer,” Ricciardo said.

“We were there, we made changes after P3 this morning. As a driver you know immediately if a change works and in Q1 i👍t felt like it was there and we were like: ‘Sweet, we are going to be in thi꧙s thing.’

“It seemed like every𝓀one else could run with it, through Q2, Q3, find a second if not more and w🍌e just stayed as a stalemate.

“I don’t know why we were the only on❀es who ౠcouldn’t find the time right now.”

Ricciardo w🌠as sceptical of his race chances on pace alone given the difficulty of overtaking in Singapore, believin🐟g his best chance instead lies with tyre strategy. 

"Right now, I am struggling to let q𝔍ualifying go. It’s still too soon,” Ricciardo said.

“Even with good pace here, it’🥃s so tricky to overtake. We will try and do something.

“All we can hope for if the cars in front, t🥃heir tyres fall away a𒊎nd they’re forced then to do a two-stop.

“Otherwise, if 🐎everyone does a one-stop, hope for someone to run on the track like they did in 2015 I guess.”