Daniil Kvyat admits Red Bull “is looking good on paper” after both he and team-mate Ricciardo split the Mercedes in FP2, but the Russian remains cautious for the rest of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

The two RB11s were on pace right out of the gate, with Ricciardo and Kvyat finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the morning. The pair then swapped positions in the afternoon en route to P2 and P3, only three and five tenths behind pace setter Lewis Hamilton.

While naturally pleased with Friday’s overall performance, Kvyat feels Red Bull cannot afford to drop the ball if it wants to carry the momentum forward.

“We’ve been looking good on paper today,” he said. “Let’s see how we are able to maintain this and even improve for tomorrow.

“There was not any big issue today but we have to tidy up a few things, like I think all the other teams and drivers, and hopefully we can benefit from this in qualifying.

“It’s just Friday so hopefully we’ll do our homework well for tomorrow. Everybody will be pushing hard so we have to do the same.

“It’s better to be P2 than P12 but like I said it’s only Friday and too early to make it any conclusions.”

Although Red Bull enjoyed “one of their better” showings in free practice this year, Kvyat was nonetheless concerned to see Ricciardo’s progress being hampered by a fresh reliability problem on his Renault power unit at the end of FP2.

“For me, the engine was OK but I saw some smoke and Daniel had an issue [with his power unit]. It’s not nice to see the other side of the garage having that kind of problems.”

REPORT: Hamilton heads Red Bull pair in FP2 hit by another red flag

Click here for a gallery of Sergio Perez's crash in FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Albon on why ‘mental warfare’ now dominates F1 racing

Alex Albon believes that Formula 1’s dramatic 2026 regulatory overhaul has fundamentally transformed modern Grand…

17 hours ago

Cadillac F1 owner Mark Walter facing major class-action lawsuit

Mark Walter, the billionaire behind TWG Global and one of the key figures controlling Cadillac’s…

18 hours ago

Rosberg warns Antonelli of a potential dangerous title fight twist

Nico Rosberg has warned F1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli about what could happen if…

20 hours ago

A salute to Switzerland's most popular F1 journeyman

Born on this day in 1951, Marc Surer is one of the 31 drivers hailing…

21 hours ago

Wolff: Mercedes started 2027 F1 project ‘before the summer’

Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes is already deep into its 2027 Formula 1 project,…

22 hours ago

Tsunoda reveals ‘biggest mistake’ behind Red Bull struggles

Yuki Tsunoda has finally put his finger on what he believes went wrong during his…

24 hours ago