Ricciardo blames "dud set" of tyres for qualifying exit

This result starkly contrasts the Australian placing the RB on the second row for the Sprint on Friday afternoon and finishing there earlier in the day.

"I don't think we could have done anything in terms of I didn't have the grip starting the lap," reflected Ricciardo.

"I didn't feel like that second set of tyres gave me typically what it should with a new soft.

"I felt like we were a little bit handicapped."

Following his fourth place in the Sprint earlier in the day, Ricciardo doesn't believe that result was a distraction and reaffirmed his opinion that the tyre set held him back.

"This sport is a very interesting sport, and it can obviously change very quickly," he noted.

"I'm glad we soaked up a little bit this morning and enjoyed that moment, but it wasn't that we weren't focused or anything for quali, I think we're in a good place.

"Honestly, that set was a dud set."

Ricciardo logged three timed laps during Qualifying 1, his best coming at his first attempt with a 1:28.617s. He followed that up with a 1:28.647s and a 1:28.618s.

Fernando Alonso proved the cutoff point, the Spaniard recording a 1:28.453s to scrape through into Qualifying 2 by 0.01s ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

A brief analysis following his elimination failed to net an explanation for Ricciardo or his RB engineer.

"It's not that we changed the car and did something different, and we're like, 'Damn, we shouldn't have done that'," he said.

"The first lap was fine. I think there was, as always, some time to find and felt like it was definitely quite easy to find on that second set, lets just say, even with a new set of tyres and track evo(lution) and a bit less fuel.

"So the lap time is there in the car, I simply just don't really know what happened with that set of tyres."

The soft tyres have been an enigma this weekend.

In Sprint Qualifying, McLaren dramatically lost pace in SQ3 when Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri went from a front-row lockout to ninth and sixth on the grid, respectively.

That uncertainty saw McLaren send Norris out on a set of medium tyres at the start of Qualifying 3 before reverting him to a soft set for his final run.

"It's kind of a shitty thing to say because it's like, there is no facts behind it, but you know, you feel it when it doesn't give you what you want," Ricciardo said of his second set of tyres.

"That's where the frustration lies.

"There was nothing drastic that I did different," he added of his preparation.

"It's hard because you've got this minimum time that you have to do, but on a track that's so hot, with these tyres, you can't go slow enough.

"Obviously, it's the same for everyone, but I don't think it was anything obvious that stood out from the prep lap.

"And even my engineer said, I saw him on the pit wall before I came to parc ferme, and he said 'look, temperatures look fine'. He was as confused as I was, so we'll have a bit more of a look into it.

"It doesn't change tomorrow - second row today and last row tomorrow.

"I don't know why, obviously I'm angry about it, but I think because I don't think it's something we fucked up, I think it was just an unfortunate session."

Ricciardo will start the Miami Grand Prix from 20th after he takes a three-place grid penalty picked up for overtaking Nico Hulkenberg under Safety Car conditions in China.

The Miami Grand Prix begins at 16:00 local time on Sunday (Monday, 06:00 AEST).