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Ricciardo left confused by gap to Norris in Monaco

Daniel Ricciardo admitted that his performance deficit to teammate Lando Norris was "frustrating and confusing" after placing 14th in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo cut a frustrated figure in the Monaco Grand Prix paddock after being out-qualified by teammate Lando Norris. The McLaren driver was well beaten in the qualifying hour, having only been able to manage 14th whilst Norris placed his car fifth on the grid for the race. Following his Q2 elimination, the 2018 Monaco winner was unable to give any clues about the deficit to Norris when asked if he thought he was going to have enough pace to get through to Q3. "Not really to be honest," Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1 . "In Q1, [we were] making some good steps, [but] a few mistakes as well. So I think putting it all together it was actually looking like we were there. Let's say 'competitive' for where it was. "Then in Q2, just you can see on your delta as well like you're just not making the gains that you should with track evolution. "Ultimately it just becomes very difficult to feel where the limit is and how much more to go."

Ricciardo expected more after P3 reset

Ricciardo has come under increasing pressure after lacking the pace of teammate Norris in the opening races of the season. The Australian has been out-scored by 39 points to 11, and trails Norris in the McLaren qualifying battle by five races to one. A crash in free practice two only added to the pressure, with doubts being cast over his future with the team. Following his Friday incident, Ricciardo believed that a strong Free Practice 3 session would help prior to qualifying. "I guess going back a few steps, FP3 was just trying to get back into a bit of a rhythm and get back up to speed," added Ricciardo. "Then we made some car changes as well for qualifying and I think we were in a decent place. "It's frustrating, it's just confusing. It's confusing to not make these kinds of natural steps that we want to do."

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