MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Daniel Ricciardo says his qualifying lap at the Mexican Grand Prix was "horrendous" after securing fourth place behind teammate Max Verstappen on Sunday's grid.
Red Bull had looked in contention for the front row up until the final laps of the session when Ricciardo only improved by less than a tenth of a second on his final run and both Red Bulls were jumped by Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.
"I thought the last run in Q3 was pretty horrendous to be honest," he said. "I came out of turn six and I think I was four tenths slower than my previous lap, so I was thinking about aborting my lap because it was nowhere. Just out of turn one the car started sliding and I couldn't understand why, but then we found a lot of time in the last sector. It was a weird session.
"A fraction of the second was everywhere, so there was a chunk but at the same time it was like that for everywhere. I don't imagine everyone is that happy with the balance. To be four tenths off pole with what I thought was one of the worst laps of my qualifying career was pretty interesting. I didn't feel like I drove a worse lap, it just felt like a terrible lap in terms of the balance and from turn one it was messy so recovering the whole lap. Second row is not too bad considering."
Asked why he and so many other drivers had struggled to get the most from the tyres in qualifying, Ricciardo said the problem stemmed from the track surface.
"We haven't had the meeting yet. I spoke with my engineer and it seemed like I wasn't the only one that lost time on the second sector. The simple explanation I can give you guys, the low grip asphalt is just really confusing... or tricky to get the tyres on. Sometimes you can put a lap together and it feels easy.
"A bit like Seb [Vettel] yesterday... I am sure he is scratching his head more than anyone today. But then if you don't get the tyre switched on on this low grip tarmac it just never comes, but the reason for that I am not sure. It is like a switch on some of the new asphalts. Looking at the times, I am not sure anyone got it right today."