Red Bull duo hurt and bewildered by lack of pace

After qualifying, Ricciardo appeared bewildered and disheartened in the media pen when he told reporters, "I thought it was alright, but I was kind of a little bit 'ugh' after quali. I didn't think the car felt too bad. We did about three 1:16.8s with different tyres and settings, but that kind of seemed like the limit of the car."

"But I didn't think it felt like that. So, to see the 1:16.1 [of pole winner Lewis Hamilton], that hurt a bit. It'd be different if the car was a handful or not going too well, but it didn't feel too bad, so we obviously just don't have the quali pace at the moment."

The Australian admitted that he had higher expectations, "I thought it was more together today. Yesterday wasn't bad, but I think we did improve it today. There's still a bit more to get out of it, but not seven tenths. Even if I forget Lewis's time I think Seb [Vettel] did a 1:16.3, so we're still about half a second off that.

"If we've got the race pace tomorrow then maybe that's just how it is at the moment - that we don't have a great qualifying package. I still think they [Ferrari and Mercedes] are going to be fast in the race, so I don't think it's going to be like we're the best tomorrow," added Ricciardo who will start from sixth on the grid.

Verstappen, who will line up in fifth, said of the deficit to the pacesetters, "You have to consider from Turn 1 until Turn 4 is flat out, with the corners where you are scrubbing speed and for our engine, of course, it is harder."

"Same from Turn 7 to Turn 10 - there is not a corner where you scrub speeds. It's just not an ideal track for us now, because it's getting easier getting flat everywhere so it's more flat-out which is not good."

Asked to explain the difference to Mercedes, he replied, "Engine, engine. As it has been for four years."