Daniel Ricciardo blamed braking issues for being eliminated from Q2 and will line up 14th for the Austrian Grand Prix.
While team-mate Daniil Kvyat made it into Q3 in the sister car, Ricciardo dropped out of the second qualifying session and was convinced he could have joined the Russian were it not for his struggles under braking.
"We ran into some issues on the braking in Q2, we're not sure why it happened but I think it was two separate issues," he explained. "I know what I felt, but we are not sure we know why it happened.
"One [issue] was we weren't able to get the temperature in the brakes, like there was an off-set between left and right side. Then there was some other stuff going on, I don't know if it was engine breaking related or with the downshift but basically I just couldn't pull up the car."
It marks the first time Ricciardo has not made Q3 this year. The Australian has a new chassis in Spielberg, which he hopes will rectify his recent struggles, and revealed Red Bull also reverted back to its 2014 brake specification ahead of this weekend.
"We came into this year with a new car and new ways of trying to be quicker, but there were still some unknowns with the set-up. Earlier in the year, races like China, we struggled a bit on braking, and in Canada I was struggling a lot at the hairpin - locking up nearly every lap and missing the apex.
"We came here with a different approach. We went to something more conventional that we ran in 2014, just to try to get some feeling back. Obviously I think the issue in qualifying was separate to that. We weren't rapid at any point this weekend, but we were looking like we should have been back to a decent level in qualifying. It's just an unfortunate coincidence we're having a poor run of late, but the tide will turn."
Ran into some issues during qualifying. We'll get on top of it. Just a little character building for now
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) June 20, 2015