Ricciardo and Red Bull at an impasse in Canada
Daniel Ricciardo admitted after the Qualifications that the Red Bull team still hasn't found the solution to its current problems, despite recent innovations brought to both cars. This explains the rather average positions on the starting grid of the Grand Prix.
The resurgence of form seen at the last Grand Prix in Monaco seemed to be just an illusion facilitated by the circuit’s configuration. In a more challenging environment in Montreal, the Red Bull team fell back a notch in the hierarchy with Qualifications ending in eighth and ninth positions. For the Australian driver, the situation is still disappointing: “We can’t understand what we need to improve. We bring innovations to the car, we fight to make progress, but to be honest, it’s not really working,” he stated.
«We try but we get nothing in return. Maybe we should go back to see if we missed something fundamental. »
The winner of the latest Canadian edition is trying to find solutions and implicitly blames the lack of performance of the Renault engine, which would prevent good adhesion to the track: « The faster you go in a straight line, the higher the temperature you generate. I think having a Mercedes engine should allow for better heating of the tires and thus make them more effective. »
His teammate Daniil Kvyat is hardly more enthusiastic: « We achieved all we could in Qualifications with the available setups. » Despite once again dominating his teammate, the young Russian primarily highlights the scope of improvements needed: « It is nevertheless a good indication of the work to be done, it will not happen in the short term. »
Christian Horner, meanwhile, was keen to protect his drivers, who used the car’s maximum potential compared to the track configuration. Eighth and ninth are the best positions we could achieve here.
The director of the Austrian team hopes for a race full of twists and turns, like last season: « We have seen in previous years that the race offers many turnarounds: we can therefore hope to move up in the hierarchy during the Grand Prix.»
The 2014 edition of the Canadian Grand Prix had given a boost to the four-time World Champion team, unlocking their victory tally for the season. However, the 2015 edition promises to be much more challenging.
