Daniel Ricciardo cites qualifying issues as the reason for his disappointing performance on Sunday.

Carrying over a grid penalty from Shanghai, the RB driver started last on the grid having been one of the many drivers to experience the erratic performance of the tyres.

"I saw Lando's lap in SQ3, where he was struggling from the start of the lap, sliding everywhere with his rear with the softs, and honestly, I felt the same," he said of a qualifying session that saw him fail to get out of Q1. "I started sliding out of Turn 1 and it just got worse and worse throughout the rest of the lap.

"There's no real explanation," he admitted. "I feel that we have a good car, but I think that in the last run of Q1, the tyres were simply operating on a different level of grip. The warm-up lap was fine and also the team was happy with where the tyres were."

Among the last to pit on Sunday, making full us of the Safety Car window that followed Logan Sargeant's retirement, the Australian climbed as high as tenth, but ended the day 15th after being stuck in a DRS train.

"Coming into a race, I'm always hopeful and optimistic and excited," he said, "but I think we were quickly met with the reality that it's not the same when we're in traffic.

"Obviously (in the Sprint) I was able to use the pace and had a clear track and just used the downforce and the grip of the car," he said, referring to his fine drive to fourth in the Sprint, "but, in these battles and with dirty air, we struggle.

"A lot of the cars in the race had a lot of downforce," he continued, "so trying to attack and defend was simply just not a straightforward one for us," he explained.

"It just goes back to qualifying. It's so important," he admitted. "Obviously, in qualifying, I was upset with the grip I had on that set of tyres and obviously, I still feel that way, but also, I'll always look at myself as well.

"I was like, 'yeah, I could have still done a little bit better here and there', so I'll still hold myself accountable for sessions like that.

"We're quick, but we're not quick enough to start at the back and chop through the field, we're simply not, so we've got to qualify better."

Nonetheless, the Australian's 5 points from the Sprint combined with his teammate's 6 from the race, consolidated RB's sixth position in the team standings.