Ricciardo not ‘naïve’ over opponent’s lack of pace

Daniel Ricciardo was buoyed by Red Bull’s speed in free practice on Friday but the Aussie refused to draw any permanent conclusions from Mercedes and Ferrari’s lack of pace.

Both Red Bull Racing’s cars dominated the opening day of running in Mexico, comfortably edging Renault’s Carlos Sainz while Ferrari and Mercedes’ chargers ended the day further down the order.

The RB14’s solid performance in low fuel conditions could put max Verstappen and Riccardo in the hunt for pole position on Saturday, although their usual front-running competitors are expected to make up, at least partially, their deficit.

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“Our car worked really well on low fuel runs in both sessions which should put us in a good position for qualifying, but I don’t want to be naïve as I’m sure Mercedes and Ferrari will turn it up and give us a push tomorrow,” said Ricciardo.

“If it stays like this it could be a close six-way fight for pole which would be pretty exciting for everyone.

“On Saturday I want to work more on our race pace and the high fuel runs as we weren’t quite as competitive on those,” added Ricciardo.

“It seems with the altitude here everyone’s power levels are closer, we will see tomorrow once everyone goes into qualifying mode but today on paper we look good.”

Pirelli’s hypersoft tyre proved a difficult proposition for teams in terms of durability, but Ricciardo feels that achieving a clean lap in qualifying could be the key to a spot on the front row.

“The key in qualifying will be to get a clean lap as it’s still quite slippery around here and it’s easy to make small mistakes,” added Ricciardo.

“The hypersoft is graining a lot, which is actually quite nice, as most of the races this season have been easy on a one-stop so maybe we will actually get a two-stop this weekend.”

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