Ricciardo very confident in the pace of his Red Bull at Interlagos
Relying on the timesheet, the Red Bulls seem slightly behind on the Interlagos track. But Daniel Ricciardo believes that the long stints completed are enough to make the Austrian brand's drivers optimistic.
Author of a 10th place in the morning and a 4th in the afternoon in free practice sessions, Daniel Ricciardo had a much better Friday than it seems: « The early signs are good. These are our best long runs we’ve seen, even though they weren’t very long » [due to the red flags, editor’s note].
The Australian thinks that the gap with the Mercedes is not as large as usual: “We are closer to them than we have been in the last few races, which is promising.” However, abnormal conditions will be needed for the star-marked firm not to secure the front row. Rain is precisely forecasted for the qualifications, something that delights Daniel Ricciardo: “We have a good chance on a wet track,” he confirms, while acknowledging that “in the dry, we aim for the second row.”
Sebastian Vettel had a more difficult Friday, finishing 14th and then 9th. However, like his teammate, the German driver remains optimistic: “Overall, it was O.K. I had a few issues, but I don’t think we’ve had many incident-free Fridays. In dry conditions, if we do everything right, we should be in a reasonable position.”
On both dry and wet track conditions, the pace shown by the Red Bull is apparently promising. The performance of the Williams and Ferrari, which also seem comfortable on the Paulista circuit, still needs to be countered.
