Red Bull 'in the mix' with surprise Sochi practice pace

Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were both looking encouraged by their performance in Friday's practice sessions for this weekend's Russian Grand Prix.

Verstappen was second fastest in the morning, just half a tenth off Sebastian Vettel's top time in FP1. In the afternoon he was third quickest behind the two Mercedes drivers.

"The car worked well," he reported. "It’s good that we at least are in the mix today.

“It was a good Friday for us. It’s better than expected to be third in FP2," he said. "The balance of the car is good.

"Straight away the car was working well, the long runs were good and we seem to be in good shape. Overall, the performance of the car is pleasing.

• FP2: Mercedes takes charge in Sochi for second practice

"However, on the long runs, which we are focusing on, the ultra and hypersoft compounds are a challenge. We need to analyse that further. But the car behaves well and we're near the front.

"If we were already half a second behind, then we would definitely have a lot more work to do. But so far we can’t really complain," he added. "It was good to be in the mix with Ferrari."

Meanwhile Ricciardo bounced back from limited running in the first session due to a technical issue, to finish the day fourth fastest. Both Red Bulls were significantly - and unexpectedly - faster in FP2 than their Ferrari rivals.

"It depends if that’s the real pace," said the Australian. "The car felt good. I enjoyed driving today.

"The circuit was fun and I think with the hypersoft, when you got grip, it’s a pretty good feeling.

"Because you don’t have any banking to give you that extra grip, coming here with the hyper gives that feeling so it’s nice. Good fun."

Unfortunately for both drivers, they will be starting at or near the back of the grid due to penalties for their latest Renault power unit changes. It makes their qualifying pace somewhat moot.

"If this was qualifying - we aren’t probably going to do qualifying - but if it was, I think it would be a bit of a surprise. A pleasant one.

"There isn’t much use in us doing the full qualifying tomorrow due to the penalties, but we will see how we go after FP3 and decide what to do then."

Ricciardo also worried that there would be limited opportunities to fight his way back up the order from the back of the grid in the race itself.

"We got bit of traffic in the long runs, so we had a bit of a feeling what it’s going to be like in the race," he said. "It’s not the easiest track to overtake but we eventually got it done.

I’m happy to see there is some tyre degradation. If it’s an easy one-stop race it could be a bit predictable, so I’m hoping it could be a two-stop to make it more exciting.

"I think the race should be fun," he summarised.

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