Ricciardo struggles through 'boring' Barcelona race

Daniel Ricciardo admitted that he had little control throughout a Spanish Grand Prix he lamented as a "boring race". Ricciardo set a new lap record when delivering the fastest lap of the race, but he finished almost a minute off race-winner Lewis Hamilton after spinning under the Virtual Safety Car.

Ricciardo and team-mate Max Verstappen were under the spotlight after their crash in Baku, but the Dutchman won the Red Bull battle, securing a mature podium place with a damaged front wing.

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It left Ricciardo in a lonely race in fifth, but he was locked in a battle with his car as regular pace eluded him.

"It was just a bit tricky to drive," Ricciardo told Sky Sports. "It was fast when you could put it all together but it was easy to make mistakes.

"It was on a knife edge. I felt it you got lucky, you could make a blistering lap, but it was like one out of five.

"For the other laps I was sliding and struggling to stay on. So fast, but not with the ease to do for consistent laps for the whole race.

"It felt like we were hanging on. I came out of the pits and had traffic, we had three cars fighting and it lost me distance. When the VSC came I had a spin on the restart. I was struggling to keep the tyres warm.

"Signs of good pace but a pretty boring race."

Ricciardo has often gone well at the Monaco Grand Prix, which is next on the calendar, and he hopes the twisting streets of Monte Carlo will help him get back on track.

"Monaco will be our strongest circuit to date on raw pace," he said. "We'll see. I'm looking forward to getting there in a couple of weeks."