Daniel Ricciardo believes Red Bull needs cooler temperatures and rain to challenge Mercedes at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
While close to Mercedes in FP1, Red Bull dropped of the pace slightly in the afternoon session at Interlagos as track temperatures rose. With the two Williams drivers jumping ahead of Red Bull over one lap, Ricciardo says it is actually the long run performance which is of more concern.
“I think the pace relative to Mercedes and Ferrari is quite normal," Ricciardo said. "Williams is a surprise but to be honest it’s good. It’s good to have another team up there so it makes it more competitive for Sunday if it stays like that. For Felipe [Massa] it’s good! He can have a strong last race.
“I think we weren’t too bad on low fuel, a little bit here and there with the balance but nothing too dramatic. But then with the higher fuel we struggled a little bit more today just trying to look after the tyres, so that’s what we’ll try to work on for tomorrow.
“I think the rain will be nice, that would be fun just to change it up a bit. But I think if it’s cooler as well tomorrow - which it looks like, for Sunday as well - it should be better on the tyres. But today the track was really hot so you could feel the tyres were having a hard time.”
Asked about challenging Mercedes on Sunday, Ricciardo replied: “We’re a bit closer to them (Mercedes) than we probably expected – half a second – and there’s still more to improve with the car, but the rain will help us.
“If we really want a chance to win that will be the way to go.
“In the dry it will be difficult, they’ve still got enough on us, but in the wet, sure, anything is possible.”
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