Russian GP, ​​Ricciardo: “Ferrari and Mercedes too fast”

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that Ferrari and Mercedes will be too fast for Red Bull during the Formula 1 Russian GP weekend. In Friday's free practice Sebastian Vettel was the fastest with Ferrari ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, trailing Mercedes by 6 tenths while Red Bull finished Free Practice 2 in fifth and sixth place with Max Verstappen 1,4 seconds behind Vettel and Ricciardo 3 tenths behind his teammate.

“As far as we're concerned, we know that this weekend will be like this, so we're trying to do the best we can with the current package, but we're not expecting much from this weekend,” said Ricciardo. “We will do everything we can hoping to be able to fight more in two weeks. We can improve but so far the positions we can get are fifth and sixth. We can still improve the car but in terms of positions, Ferrari and Mercedes are too fast."

To those who asked him if Mercedes was hiding, Ricciardo replied: “I think it's Seb's problem at the moment. They are fighting with Mercedes. We are not there yet, so if Mercedes improves it doesn't change the result for us. We will see. Usually on Saturdays they improve their pace, but Ferrari still seems to be the best.

Max Verstappen's day ended early when he stopped with a power unit problem with 20 minutes to go in the second session. The Dutchman revealed he had a fuel pressure problem: “I think it was a fuel pressure problem. It's a bit of a shame, we couldn't do a long run. We have to think about how to improve for Saturday, this track is not one of our favorites so let's try to do our best. We're a little behind in terms of power, especially here, when you don't have the load you would like. Then there are the curves and the straights together, which makes everything a little more complicated."