Legendary triple world champion Niki Lauda and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo are both anticipating a close battle for victory at the Australian GP.
The Austrian, who is now a non-executive chairman at Mercedes, has gone against the caution of his colleague Toto Wolff by inserting the world champion’s as the team to beat at Albert Park.
More interestingly, though, is who Lauda sees as the biggest threat to the Brackley-based team.
“I see us a maximum of two tenths ahead, behind Red Bull and then comes Ferrari,” he said stating his prediction.
“The W09 is easier to drive and what I noticed were the incredible cornering speeds, which is great for the fans at the track. As is the higher noise level.”
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As for Ricciardo, he heads to Melbourne very much the local favourite and keen to finally score a big result at his home Grand Prix and also sees a small margin covering the top three teams.
“I’d love to say we are all within half a second,” he told the official F1 website. “I think that’s still being quite conservative but realistically, if it leaves six cars within half a second, it’s looking alright. I’d like to think that’s as big as the gap is going to be spread.
“But Mercedes kept a bit under wraps at testing so I don’t want to say we are out of it before it begins, but I think on real pace the Mercedes is still ahead of the Ferrari and Red Bull.”
As for whether his Red Bull team has done enough over the winter to jump Ferrari, the man from Perth is undecided.
“I don’t know where we stand with Ferrari, I think we are close,” Ricciardo said. “I couldn’t tell you if we are a tenth quicker or they are.”
