After a disappointing qualifying which left him 14th on the grid in Qatar, Ricciardo hoped toꦓ bounce back on race day.

Ricciardo 🍒failed to make any progress on the opening lap after going three-wide into the first corner with Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll.

The Australian’s race was thwarted by the amou🔯nt of fuel-saving he had to d🔯o, costing him around two seconds per lap.

Explaining the issue, Ricciardo said: “After the st🍒art we had fuel saving fౠrom super early in the race. I started doing what I thought was already a lot, and it was not enough. 

“So Tom [Stallard, his engineer] said you need to do more. It is not enoug🔴h. To a point where at times we were losing two seconds a lap by fuel saving. And without෴ the brakes get cold, the tires get cold, and you lose grip. It is a downward spiral. 

“So we were fuel saving for a good half of the race, and that took us w🗹ay out. And then Tom said no more fuel saving. Maximum push. I’m only saying Tom because he is the one that feeds me the information, but it is clearly a system error today. It 🔯is a shame because when I could push the referenced time I was able to get… But we were at the mercy of error today with the reading.”

Ricciardo believes it cost him a chance of sc🌄oring points in Qatar.

“It is the most I’ve had to save and the earliest in the race that I ever had to save,” he added. “I think you guys could’ve driven a similar pace when I was f♔uel saving. I was coasting into every corner.&nbs🔜p;

“And it was never enough. I don’t know what happe♌ned to the system or if they got another reading, and t♛hen Tom said no more just push.

“I’m going to look at the bright side and sa✅y I’m glad it did not happen in a🐻 podium position because that would have been the most painful thing ever. But it definitely took us out of a chance at the points.”

McLaren boss Andreas Seidl didn’t have an explanation as to💝 what caused 🧜the fuel issue as the team continues to investigate the issue.

“On Daniel’s side, a good start to the race, unfortunately, he had a lot of fuel-saving, unexpectedly which compromised his race quite a lot and any chance to get ꦫback into the points,” Seidl explained.

“It’s somethin💎g that we need to analyse why this h✱appened.”