Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Ricciardo surprised by Red Bull standing

Daniel Ricciardo admits he was surprised by Red Bull's competitiveness during Friday practice ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

With the Renault power unit not expected to be well suited to the high-speed demands of Spa-Francorchamps, Ricciardo was third fastest in both sessions behind the two Mercedes drivers. Asked if Red Bull could be in the mix for victory, Ricciardo replied: "I hate to say no, but Merc are still I believe too quick.

"They might even turn up (the speed) a bit more on Saturday. Generally if we can stay third and fourth then we are pretty pleased. We didn’t really expect to be this far up today, but we know that Williams always turn it on on Saturday, and that Ferrari will find a bit more.

"So it is going to closer tomorrow. But to win we will need a helping hand again from Merc. A podium would be nice. Let’s see how we go. We’ve got tomorrow to deal with. It will close up a lot more."

Nico Rosberg set the pace in both sessions but his afternoon was ended by a spectacular tyre failure which Ricciardo admits concerns him slightly.

"We’ve got the drivers meeting tonight and I am sure it will be discussed. It looked pretty spectacular. Fortunately he didn’t hit anything, but you think if that happens in another corner it can be a little bit more scary. A little bit more humidity around the lower region! It was a little bit scary to watch."

Click here for a gallery of the biggest crashes at Spa-Francorchamps

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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.