Daniel Ricciardo has lamented a tough day at the office in Malaysia on Sunday as he could only manage 10th place at Sepang.

The Australian was expecting a solid race as he started fourth on the grid after a brilliant display during the wet qualifying session on Saturday, but he damaged his front wing at the first corner and went backwards after that.

He also struggled with brake issues and had to settle for P10, one place behind his team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

"I probably had high hopes coming into the race and I was ready for a fight to try to do something special, but the race was anything but special," he said. "We knew we had a bit more pace in the wet than in the dry, but we still expected to run top five or top six.

"We damaged the front wing a bit on the first lap, which I think hurt us somewhat, and there was quite a bit going on with the brakes. We couldn’t really look after the tires that well. I think with the other issues we had they were hurting our driving style.

"It wasn’t exciting. I just felt helpless, to be honest. I feel like I came in fired up and ready to go, but it was hard to put up a fight."

What added insult to injury was that Ricciardo's former team-mate Sebastian Vettel not only took the victory for Ferrari, but he also lapped both Red Bulls.

"[It was the] Icing on the cake. Congratulations to Seb, but getting lapped by him is not the best feeling in the world," the Australian said.