An unusually angry Daniel Ricciardo has hit out at a "stupid" and "silly" strategic error by his Red Bull team in qualifying for the Monaco GP.

A year on from taking pole in Monte Carlo, Ricciardo will start this Sunday's race from fifth after the team opted to only make one flying run in Saturday's top-10 shootout.

And an unhappy Ricciardo has hit out at Red Bull after his lap was disrupted by traffic.

"To go with that strategy we knew we had to go hard on our out lap, to work the tyres hard, to push and create temperature," Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.

"On my out-lap we came out in traffic and it seemed that we had a clear track behind so l don't know why we didn't wait and put me in clear air. Unless the timer was going down and we weren't going to make it out of the pits, which l don't think was the case, it just seemed that we made a stupid, silly error. From the car it seemed obvious. Maybe I am missing something but it seemed an obvious and basic mistake."

While Red Bull's pace has been encouraging so far this weekend, an aggrieved Ricciardo fears his qualifying setback has already all-but wrecked his prospects on Sunday.

"The race is today to be honest. Qualifying is everything around here. We're better than fifth. We under-achieved so much and this is the last place to do that. It's frustrating and l am not happy at all."

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