Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull focused on race set-up during Friday practice as it faces engine penalties at the Italian Grand Prix.
Renault's power unit has a power deficit which is accentuated on high-speed circuits such as Monza, leading Red Bull to take new units in order to ensure it doesn't face penalties in Singapore where it expects to be much more competitive. Ricciardo says the result was a focus on race set-up on Friday, with Red Bull likely to have to recover from the back of the grid.
"Today we did the most that we could," Ricciardo said. "We were focusing on race set-up knowing that we start from the back, so Sunday is going to be a lot more important for us.
"Mercedes we can’t fight, we can’t challenge. Maybe some rain will come but Sunday looks dry. We will just do what we can this week and see what happens in Singapore where we should be a lot stronger."
And Ricciardo admits it is frustrating experiencing the lack of power compared to other cars out on track.
"We lose quite a bit of time on the straights, so you are on the straight just driving and you can’t push the pedal any harder. We know that we are going to lose some time there. It is for sure the best place to take our (engine) penalties.
"This morning was okay and then this afternoon we did not do as much running and were outside the top 10 where we thought we’d probably be. We will see what we can do in the race. On Saturday it won’t be too busy for us."
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