Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo feels fifth place on the grid for the Russian Grand Prix was the best result possible at the Sochi Autodrom.
Red Bull expected the long straights of the Sochi track not to suit the RB13 and Ricciardo finished 1.7 seconds behind polesitter Sebastian Vettel in qualifying.
The Australian thinks Red Bull did not show its full pace during practice and felt fifth in qualifying, the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s best grid position at Sochi, was the maximum.
“I don’t think the practice session timings were completely representative of our pace and I felt like we were always a bit better than the timing screen showed but we hadn’t quite put it all together,” he said.
“In Q1 and Q2 we were trying to circulate and build temperature in the tyres but in Q3 we went for it and decided just to do one push lap which seemed to work so I’m glad we chose to do that.
“I’m pretty happy, I think fifth was all we could ask for today and that’s obvious looking at the gap to the front.
“Fifth is our best qualifying result here in Russia and we have to take the positives for now so I’m pleased to have achieved that for the team.
“I think Ferrari and Mercedes will be battling for the win tomorrow but we will definitely have a good fight for the top five.
“Compared to the Williams I think we have more rear downforce and could be better on the tyres but they have the straight-line speed and if you compare us to Ferrari and Mercedes they still have a bit of everything on us.”
Max Verstappen was seventh in the second Red Bull, admitting he was “frustrated” with the result after struggling in the last sector.
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