Daniel Ricciardo has vowed to improve his race starts after he dropped from seventh to 17th by the time he had reached the first corner in China.
The error, which the Australian has accepted full responsibility for, cost Ricciardo a potential points haul after he got caught in a battle with backmarkers including McLaren.
He eventually finished ninth to score two points, but says a repeat of his start “won’t happen again”.
“What happened in China, and obviously after looking through everything, it was my mistake in the end and something I obviously won’t let happen again,” he said on Thursday in the Bahrain paddock.
“The important thing is that I’m aware why it happened and what happened and will move on from there.
“Definitely last year the starts weren’t the strongest on the grid. In general it’s a point that we all want to improve,” he added. “I think it’s got to be better this weekend.”
Looking ahead to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the 25-year-old believes there is pace to found in the RB11 which hasn’t yet been unlocked, and he expects a good result if they can take a step forward with the setup.
“I believe there’s definitely more to be unlocked within the car,” he explained. “In terms of setup, I don’t think myself or Dany have really found a balance or setting that we’re really comfortable with.
“If we keep ironing them out we will find… I don’t think it’s a second but we are going to find a fair few tenths that will put us in that group with Williams and hopefully get us onto the back of the Ferraris.”
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