Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull updates 'have come to life' - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull's updates "have come to life" during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

Having looked very competitive over a long run on Friday, Ricciardo was quick in qualifying and lost out to Sebastian Vettel by just 0.035s in the fight for third place. While Ricciardo admits the track characteristics suit Red Bull more, he also says the car is performing better itself.

"The circuit here helps us," Ricciardo said. "I really feel the updates have come to life a bit more here, using maximum downforce. This circuit is a strength of ours but I do feel after yesterday morning when we left the garage the car felt more together and I think I had more confidence in it. I was able to lean on I more, feel it over the bumps, so it is showing signs of progress."

And Ricciardo is confident Red Bull has the ability to fight Ferrari in race trim despite having yet to score a podium so far this season.

"I think Ferrari we can challenge. I was aware I got fourth in qualifying [in 2014] and then won. I think Ferrari can be a genuine challenge tomorrow. Even if they are a bit quicker, we have a new set options if it is a two-stop race and that might just put us back in the fight. We have a few things that can work to our advantage."

AS IT HAPPENED: Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying

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

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.