Ricciardo eyes Mercedes/Ferrari challenge by mid-season

Daniel Ricciardo says he hopes Red Bull can challenge Mercedes and Ferrari by “the second half of the year”.

The Australian sees the reigning Constructors’ champions and their nearest 2015 rivals pick up where they left off, but he is confident that his team has produced a strong package in the RB12, though engine partner Renault is still trailing in terms of horsepower.

“I’ve driven a few years now in F1 and I know what a good car feels like so at least with us I know… at least from testing I can take out that our chassis is pretty good,” Ricciardo told reporters ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

“What’s still an unknown is what Seb [Vettel] and Lewis [Hamilton] are saying. Are they hopping out of their car saying this chassis is a lot better than last year’s as well? I still expect them to be the frontrunners, Ferrari and Mercedes, at the start of the season but me knowing what I know from previous years, I think we’ve started off with a good chassis and as we’ve done in the past, we can keep improving that.

If we can improve that, along with the power unit this year, then by probably the second half of the year we should be able to maybe challenge them but again, it’s still really guesswork, it’s not like numbers, it’s not like they all add up to victory at the end of the day. It’s still a bit inconclusive until we get going, probably the first four or five races.”

For now, Ricciardo believes Red Bull will fare better in the race than during the revamped qualifying session.

“I think the long pace will be better for us. The short runs are going to be a little more… I think in qualifying we’re probably not going to be as strong but long runs we should be good.”

Red Bull's challenging 2015 season was its first winless campaign since 2008.

F1i's Australian Grand Prix preview

2016 F1 season: Team-by-team preview

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