Daniel Ricciardo expressed mixed emotions at Red Bull’s pace during qualifying for the second round of the season in Bahrain.
Red Bull was frequently adrift of the Mercedes/Ferrari axis across one-lap in 2017, and again Ricciardo was unable to live with the pace of its opponents, as he wound up fifth fastest.
However, Ricciardo finished the session within two-tenths of fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton, and within half a second of polesitter Sebastian Vettel.
“Part of me is disappointed that we are so close but still at the tail of the lead pack in qualifying, but I don’t think I could really have done much better,” said Ricciardo.
“Lewis was still a couple of tenths ahead of me. There was maybe a tenth left on the table but I think the Mercedes still had some extra pace.
“It’s almost frustrating to be so close but actually it’s encouraging that the top five cars are within about four tenths.”
Ricciardo expressed encouragement over Red Bull’s race pace, as he prepares to start from the outside of the second row as a consequence of Hamilton’s five-place grid penalty.
“Yesterday our race pace didn’t look bad but I think our car in FP2 wasn’t as good as it is now, so it’s encouraging to know that our car should be even better tomorrow and hopefully it puts us in the fight,” he said.
“We will start in fourth place now with Lewis’s penalty so I think it is going to be exciting. Hopefully, in 24 hours we can do a pretty cool interview after a good race.”
Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen will start only 15th after crashing out in Q1.
