Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull chassis caught up with Mercedes - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull's chassis improved so much throughout the season that it was as good as the Mercedes by the end of the year.

Red Bull struggled at the start of 2015 with an uncompetitive power unit, but Ricciardo was also unhappy with the car's handling. As the season wore on, Red Bull's results improved with a double podium in Hungary, second place for Ricciardo in Singapore and a spell leading in the wet in the United States.

Asked about his feelings regarding this year's Red Bull chassis, Ricciardo replied: "It’s a tough one.

"It’s frustrating. If we had more power we could probably win races, but at the same time it’s quite cool that we know we have good guys in the team and we have a good car. It’s frustrating but it is quite rewarding because the guys know the work they are doing is working.

"For me, we didn’t have the quickest car at the start of the year, the chassis had some deficiencies, but I think what the team has done is make the chassis pretty much back to where it was last year, which is as good as the Mercedes."

Red Bull will continue to run a Renault power unit in 2016, though the engine will be badged as a Tag Heuer.

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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.