Daniel Ricciardo 'wants to drown himself in ice bath' in dark reaction to Singapore woes

Daniel Ricciardo made a dark joke about his struggles in Formula One as the Visa Cash App RB driver endured another disappointing qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Australian needed to produce in qualifying with rumours continuing to swirl that he will be replaced before the end of the season.

However, the 35-year-old failed to make it out of Q1 at the Marina Bay circuit, while his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda managed to get into Q3.

It represented another below-par display from Ricciardo, who looks to be fighting a losing battle to convince the team to keep him for 2025.

Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson, who deputised for Ricciardo last season while he recovered from a fractured hand, is the favourite to take his seat.

Ricciardo appeared to acknowledge his bleak fate after failing to shine in Singapore, as he prepares to start from 16th on the grid for Sunday’s race. And the veteran racer attempted to mask a disappointment with a chilling joke about his recent performances.

"Obviously, the Q1 thing, that sucks. With all the s*** going on, I honestly felt [it] would be good today. So that's why I'm more just like, ‘how did we end up [out] in Q1?’" Ricciardo said.

"I try to be optimistic but today was a very pessimistic day, so I'll go drown in my ice bath, you'll find me there tomorrow, floating."

When quizzed about his car’s lack of pace, Ricciardo said: "We were in a good place yesterday so we were pretty upbeat about it, we weren't chasing our tail.

"Honestly, the medium this morning was good, it felt like we started off on the same foot as yesterday but then I put the soft on and I was nowhere.

"So we did a bit of fine-tuning for quali and I thought we would be OK, but again, I wasn't comfortable on the soft. It was... I would say miserable because we were somewhere yesterday, genuinely, and there wasn't any big mistakes.

"But I knew when I crossed the line that it wasn't quick. It just didn't feel that nice."

This weekend’s race marks 16 years since one of the most controversial scandals engulfed F1 when Fernando Alonso took victory in the 2008 Singapore GP.

The Spaniard was aided by a safety car that was brought out due to a crash from his team-mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, and it later transpired that the Renault driver had deliberately crashed to help Alonso secure the result.

And Ricciardo said his team would need to draw inspiration from the incident dubbed ‘crashgate’ in order to secure a favourable result.

"Hopefully, [we get] a well-timed safety car," he added. "Bring Piquet back, and let's make it happen."