Red Bull ‘not as competitive’ as expected - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull were “not as competitive” as expected in Friday’s free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, despite "trying a few new things" on the Renault-powered RB11.

The Australian finished a lowly 14th in the morning session, some 2.5s off pacesetter Lewis Hamilton. Last year’s Montreal winner then managed to move up to the top 10 in the afternoon before heavy rain swept across Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and prevented any further improvement.

“We tried a few new things with the car and it didn’t get up to speed,” said Ricciardo. “It didn’t really feel like it was beneficial with the running we did, so we were a bit behind in first free practice,” but we came to a more conventional set-up this afternoon.

“It was working better but we didn’t get enough laps really. We will move forward tomorrow but we are not as competitive as we would like to be today.”

While championship leaders Mercedes still enjoy a healthy gap at the front, cars are then tightly bunched behind the two W06 Hybrids. What’s more, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg sprung a surprise in FP1 as they set the third and fourth fastest times respectively.

Although Ricciardo did not expect the Mercedes-powered E23 and VJM08 to fare so well, the Australian welcomes the extra competition and believes it makes for a nice incentive to emerge as best of the rest.

“It is tight today and we have Lotus and Force India showing their nose, which was a bit of a surprise. I think when we get it right, we should be in front of that but it is going to be closer than expected this weekend.

“It is cool, it is fun to have a battle and it is nice to know if you do get the qualifying lap right it can propel you a fair few places, so it will be on tomorrow.”

Click here for technical analysis of the braking challenge at the Canadian Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Button aims for WEC glory with Jota’s new Cadillac works effort

Jenson Button will return to the World Endurance Championship in 2025 with Jota, as part…

5 hours ago

Sainz confident he’d ‘work well’ with Verstappen at Red Bull

Carlos Sainz believes that a potential partnership with Max Verstappen at Red Bull would have…

6 hours ago

Grosjean proud of Komatsu success with Haas: ‘It’s fantastic!’

Romain Grosjean has shared heartfelt praise for his longtime friend and former Haas race engineer,…

8 hours ago

An F1 journeyman made of the right stuff

Former F1 driver Brett Lunger, who turns 79 on this day, is pictured here hitching…

9 hours ago

Formula 1 extends Monaco Grand Prix deal until 2031

Formula 1 has announced a new agreement with the Automobile Club de Monaco that will…

10 hours ago

Las Vegas GP ready to roll the dice on Verstappen title celebration

The Las Vegas Grand Prix organizers are ready to put together an epic championship celebration…

11 hours ago