Daniel Ricciardo: Track limits penalty in qualifying was 'frustrating'

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that the upcoming sprint shootout has helped ease the frustration after an expensive track limits penalty in qualifying at Spa.

In the qualifying session, the AlphaTauri driver recorded a lap time that would have secured him the 10th position in Q1. However, the time was invalidated due to a track limits violation as he went off the track at the top of Eau Rouge.

Acknowledging the mistake, Ricciardo admitted that it had a significant impact on his performance, emphasising that he could have been faster if he had stayed on the racing line.

Despite the setback, the knowledge of having another chance in the sprint shootout on Saturday has provided some comfort to Ricciardo, dampening the disappointment of the penalty.

"Basically I tried to take Eau Rouge full, like I entered full and I felt the car start to move. And so I had a little lift, and it just then put me a bit offline and then I was kind of on the wetter part of the track, and I couldn't really do much more," Ricciardo told Motorsport.com.

"I kind of just had to let the car go. I tried to save it. Yeah, frustrating obviously.

"On one hand this is what quali is. My intentions were good to try and take it full, I thought it could have been done, but obviously a little error then put us out.

"Right now how I feel I'm very happy that I get another chance tomorrow.

"That's kind of numbed a little bit of the pain.

"And yeah, I think it's back to the laptops and get into the data. I think we'll probably have similar conditions tomorrow, so see how that puts us."