Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo
“We’re looking pretty good, we’d like to be a bit closer to Mercedes but at the moment we’re sitting sort-of second best, a bit quicker than Ferrari today, so we are more or less where we expected to be. We knew it would be close with Ferrari, so if we can keep our nose in front that would be nice. I think we’re in a pretty good position for a Friday. The new track surface isn’t massively different, it’s a bit smoother but the nature of the track is still the same. I was a little bit worried it would lose some of its character, but I think it’s still much the same. As more cars drive on the track during the weekend, it should come up and get quicker and quicker. We have to target top three; the last two years we have had podiums here, so three years in a row would be nice.”
Max Verstappen
“We started quite easily in FP1 today and worked through our programme. FP2 was much better; we were a lot closer to the pace of the Mercedes and the long runs were looking good so I’m happy about that. I made a little mistake in the last sector on my fast lap but these things happen, hopefully just today and not tomorrow. I want to improve the car a bit for the race, Ferrari are not too far away so we shall see what happens tomorrow in qualifying. The weather on Sunday could be warmer which usually means more issues with the tyres but it’s the same for everyone so let’s wait and see. For me the kerbs are quite ok here, if you have an oversteer moment then you can go wide but otherwise it’s ok to stay within the limits of the track.”
