Daniel Ricciardo couldn't have endured a worse home race weekend if he tried, but insists he can take some positives from the race, namely team-mate Max Verstappen's relatively competitive pace.
Ricciardo crashed out of Q3, consigning him to 10th on the grid, which became 15th when he was handed a five-place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change.
However, Ricciardo encountered a sensor problem on his way to the grid and was unable to make the start, joining the action two laps down, before retiring mid-distance due to an unrelated fuel cell issue.
"It’s been a long week, don’t get me wrong, it's been fun but I feel bad for everyone, the fans, people supporting me," he said after retiring from the race.
"It all snowballed from yesterday, the five-place grid penalty sounded bad enough, then we had other issues. Just a long day, happy to move on, it’s okay, a bit disappointed today but i'll wake up tomorrow and be fine, ready to prepare and go for China."
Gallery: Check out the best photos from the Australian Grand Prix
Ricciardo was pleased to see team-mate Verstappen's strong race pace, which saw the Dutch driver finish six seconds adrift of Kimi Raikkonen, having run the second stint on the Super Softs, as opposed to the Softs favoured by the leading quartet.
"On the plus side im getting out of there. I was a few laps down, but we were getting some good information, which was something, still valuable track time.
"If I'm going to look on the bright side, Max seemed to be doing a reatively good pace and maybe we can learn something from his race and as a team move forward."
