Daniel Ricciardo has eyes on challenging former teammate Sebastian Vettel at the start after leading the midfield in British Grand Prix qualifying.
The Australian produced a solid lap to beat McLaren’s Lando Norris into the ‘best of the rest’ position of seventh, as Renault showed signs of recovery following a tough race in Austria.
Speaking after the session though, Ricciardo admits he wasn’t totally satisfied until hearing of his final result.
“It was alright! Seventh feels good,” he told Sky Sports.
“The lap itself was actually a little bit meh, there were a few corners where I could have done better so it actually wasn’t perfect but once I was told we got seventh I was happy.”
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While admitting maintain his position was the likely target on Sunday, that won’t stop Ricciardo from thinking about those in front.
“I’m on the clean side of the grid so I might be able to have a crack at Vettel,” he said. “Gasly, I’m not sure how he start but we will see how we go. Once the race settles I think 7th is really our battle.”
Backing up Renault’s improvement at Silverstone, Nico Hulkenberg also made Q3, albeit only managing 10th.
“We’ve managed to improve the car overnight which made us more competitive today,” he explained.
“I’m not entirely happy with qualifying and P10 is always a bit annoying. We will just see what we can do in the race.
“It’s usually quite different here and you have to manage your tyres a lot so strategy will definitely be an interesting topic tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”
