Ricciardo wants Red Bull to keep expectations in check

Daniel Ricciardo is keen for Red Bull to keep its expectations in check after a solid start to pre-season testing.

Red Bull enjoyed a much more productive first test than a year ago, completing 369 laps over the four days in Barcelona despite the late confirmation of its power unit deal last year. Having been left disappointed by the team's start to 2015 as it struggled both with reliability and chassis performance, Ricciardo says he does not want to be in the same situation again at the start of this season.

“Obviously after last year and the start of the season I’m not going to get wrapped up in anything," Ricciardo told F1i. "So I’m just going to play it cool I guess, that’s the thing. I don’t want to be all buzz and then we get to Melbourne and we’re 10th and I’m like ‘Ah…’ so I’ve just got to keep it real for now.

"Generally reliability so far is pretty good, the car is for me aerodynamically and all that in a lot better place than it was 12 months ago. So I think the platform we’ve got is good, I think the next step is across the year how much we can develop that. If we can make the Red Bull-sized steps then I think we really can see something again as the year goes on.”

Ricciardo's cautious approach comes after he completed 199 laps across the first two days of the test, with the Australian pleased not to have any major disruptions to his running.

“I was pretty happy with my couple of days, some little bits and pieces here and there but otherwise it was pretty smooth. Did some short runs, long runs and did pretty much all the important stuff for now so I’m happy.”