Daniel Ricciardo is certain Red Bull can extract further performance from the RB13 despite posting the fastest time in Friday Practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.
With engine performance not as crucial despite the long main straight at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the need for stability under braking and a good high downforce package plays to the strengths of the Milton Keynes outfit, as the Australian proved by beating the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second.
Well aware that Red Bull’s main weakness remains single lap pace in qualifying, however, Ricciardo admits work needs to be done to ensure they can capitalise on their good form in the races.
“We know Mercedes always find a bit more on a Saturday, so we need to find a couple tenths to still be in the fight with them on Saturday,” he said. “Sunday it is going to be really close. Today was a good day so we will try and keep it going for the rest of the weekend.
“We can still be a bit better from what I feel with the setup I know we can improve a few things. So far it looks okay. It is going to be pretty close these last few races, it is going to be pretty close with the top three teams.”
Mexico provides one of the more unique challenges for teams and drivers as thinner air at high altitude means downforce levels are lower than Monza despite the Monaco-spec wings.
A typically dusty track on a Friday only made it harder with most making a mistake at some point in Practice.
“It is always tricky here with the low grip, really easy to make mistakes as quite a few people spun today and went off track,” Ricciardo commented. “So be very careful, very nice to your car and have a good feeling for it, that helps around here.”
As for teammate Max Verstappen, the Dutchman ran a different run plan which would lead to some disruption in the morning before poor reliability then impacted his running in Practice 2.
“I didn’t do many laps, in the morning we tried some new bits for next year which we are trying to understand,” he explained, “but I said let’s stop it early and swap it again for the normal parts we have.
“You lose a bit of momentum there already, and also you can’t really set up the car because of the different parts and yeah going into the second session just chasing a bit with the car balance, just trying to correct it because basically, I’ve missed the morning. After we had an engine failure, but it was an old engine so it should be fine.
“Could’ve been a bit better but at least the car is still there,” he added. “Even if I’m not happy with the car balance, we were still third. I guess that’s good.”
