Daniel Ricciardo believes problems fully adapting to the Renault engine upgrade introduced in Canada was responsible for his subdued performance over the weekend.

Following his dominance in Monaco, the Australian never looked fully happy with his Red Bull after problems in practice on Friday and then only managing sixth in qualifying while his teammate Max Verstappen shined.

Concerns before the weekend over reliability also weighed on his mind, with the engine parts he used a bit of a mash-up of those that still work, and there was a little irritation on his part when speaking after the race.

“We had the upgrade this weekend and my car struggled more with the driveability, the calibration,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

“It could have been better, let’s say that. I was just struggling to keep the tyres under control with that driveability.

“I would say it explains some of the inconsistency. But also Max was driving really well all weekend, so I won’t take that away from him.”

Despite the niggles, the Red Bull driver was still the only top six runner to make any progress on Sunday, jumping Kimi Raikkonen at the start and overcutting Lewis Hamilton in the pit-stop phase.

“I’m pretty happy we got through the whole weekend,” he said. “We got some good points, I believe we gained two points in the championship because we got Lewis."

“We’ll see what happens. It’ll bite us soon," he said referring to the likelihood of an engine penalty in the coming races. "We’ll try to stay on top while we can.”