Ricciardo: “Closer than expected to Mercedes”

Daniel Ricciardo said he is convinced that Red Bull is in a position to be the second force behind Mercedes at the Hungarian F1 GP. On the twisty Hungaroring, better suited to the RB11, Ricciardo and his teammate Daniil Kvyat managed to insert themselves between the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg in Free Practice 2.

Kvyat finished 3 tenths behind Hamilton while Ricciardo was half a second behind, ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo seemed much more smiley than usual, despite a problem with the Renault engine in Free Practice 2: it was an old unit anyway and therefore will not lead to any penalties.

“It was one of our best Fridays,” said Ricciardo. “We seem very competitive” he added. “We have several updates and the circuit is one that suits our car. Having good pace in both sessions, with both cars, is positive. With little fuel we are more or less there, with a high fuel load we still seem competitive. The long runs seemed good before the failure, and my engineer told me we were fast on the track on the soft tyres. I didn't expect to be so close to Mercedes, but we'll see what happens tomorrow. Maybe they had a little more fuel. I just hope we stay where we are. I expect Rosberg to come back ahead of us, but being second team would still be great. I'm sure we don't have a second of margin over Ferrari but if tomorrow we are a tenth ahead it will still be positive. The improvements are positive, but I'm trying not to get too excited, however it was a good day for us."