Ricciardo plays down podium chances for Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo says he would not bet on Red Bull extending its podium streak at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, with the Australian tipping Ferrari to fight back on home soil.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit has shown impressive pace over the summer to surpass the Scuderia in the fight for second in the Constructors’ championship.

Ricciardo himself is coming off three consecutive podium finishes but the 27-year-old believes the ultra-fast Monza venue will not play to the strengths of its Renault-powered RB 12.

“I’m not expecting a podium but I think we can still have a good race,” Ricciardo said. “I think we can fight for a top five and we can have the pace for a top five and then anything can happen… a slipstream from Mercedes [in qualifying] would be nice!

“The victory is always going to be in Mercedes hands. But for the last spot on the podium, I don’t normally bet against myself, but if I had to put 10 Euros now on someone, I would say Ferrari would be the favorite, sitting here today, to take the podium. But my job is to go against the odds.”

Red Bull has been making consistent inroads into Mercedes’ lead, though its car has not received any major upgrade since Renault’s B-spec power unit in Monaco. Ricciardo explains that the team has been refining the smaller evolutions it brings on a constant basis instead.

“We do have little bits and pieces nearly at every race, and they make small differences. What also some of these updates bring, if it is a little small wing on the front wing, like a little Gurney or something like that, even if it does not give you speed, like it doesn’t give you any lap time, sometimes these things make the set up of the car easier or finding the set up of the car easier.

“So it sort of expands the window, and it is easier to be comfortable with the car. Even if it does not give you more downforce, it can maybe make the opportunity to get the right set up and be happier. And then obviously you are always going to find a bit of speed. That is what it is. Which is nice.

“On Fridays… normally the car we are bringing, we change a few things but we are not normally reinventing the wheel. So that is important. When you start reinventing the wheel, we found ourselves in that position a few times last year, it is really hard to get lucky and find a set up that works for the rest of the weekend.”

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