Daniel Ricciardo admits it is very unlikely he will continue to use a Monza-style low downforce rear wing for the remainder of the Belgian GP weekend, after a struggling in the corners in practice.
In a bid to counteract the engine power deficit and join the fight at the front, Red Bull decided to go with two different setups on their cars, running a much skinnier wing on Daniel Ricciardo’s car while using a more common setup with Max Verstappen.The main aim with the setup handed to the Australian is to recover lost on the straights by having higher speeds in sectors 1 and 3 which will require higher downforce.
Along the straights that make up Sector’s 1 and 3 it worked as the Australian was the quickest of anyone, however, in the more twisty middle part, he would lose well over a second, eventually ending the day sixth overall and a second off the pace.
“First and third sector are awesome but the middle sector I am in an F3 car,” Ricciardo said explaining how the lack of wing impacted performance
“We tried. I would have liked it to have worked but it didn’t. At this stage, it is not competitive enough to go with. We will see if we can make a compromise, otherwise, go with the downforce Max had.
“We tried to be a little bit aggressive with a good top speed set up, and we lost too much time in the corners second sector. We didn’t really gain enough in the corners to what we gained on the straight.”
Talking about his team’s battle with Mercedes and Ferrari, Ricciardo kept the hope alive for Sunday, particularly as Verstappen was fourth and only four tenths off the pace.
“We will see. Tomorrow I think I will be much more competitive,” he claimed. “We will go with a better set-up. You are looking at the top five. We are within four or five tenths. If we can get inside that then we might be okay.”
As for the Dutchman, he had a better Friday compared to his teammate, however, insisted work needs to be done to find the best setup available as he complained of a lack of top speed.
“I think the car itself was actually quite alright, of course, you can always improve but it was not too far out,” he said. “But we lose too much on the straights at the moment so that’s why you could see Daniel trying a different philosophy but also that seems to be quite difficult for us.”
When asked about his expectations over the weekend, Verstappen was more conservative than his teammate, replying “fifth or sixth” bluntly.
“We’ll see but I think it’s pretty normal for us to be here again like a pretty solid third team. It’s just difficult on the straights to match that,” he added.
