Red Bull planning "significant" Hungarian GP upgrade

Daniel Ricciardo says that the team is preparing a major development push for the Hungaroring race in a fortnight's time to help improve downforce levels.

"I do believe we've got something significant for Budapest," said Ricciardo at Silverstone. "This weekend it's usual bits and pieces, which we kind of bring now nearly every race. But Budapest is probably more of an advertised update as opposed to this weekend."

Red Bull was left hugely encouraged by its pace at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Ricciardo was able to finish close behind leading duo Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel on the road.

Ricciardo said the result had been more of a confidence boost than his win in Azerbaijan last month.

Team boss Christian Horner says that the Red Bull Ring performance has lifted hopes that the team has not only closed the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes, but will be able to mix it with the championship contenders soon.

"If we can keep building on Austria's performance then we should hopefully be able to get cars between Ferrari and Mercedes or vice versa," he said.

"Our drivers are going to have little to lose, so we are just going to be going for the best results we can. We are not essentially in the drivers' championship. Daniel is some way off but we are still looking to achieve some big results."

Reflecting on the progress the team has made with its RB13 car since a difficult start to the campaign, Horner said: "I think we're seeing constant evolution and progress.

"I think we were really pleased to see, at a track that ironically belongs to Red Bull but is one of our weakest circuits in terms of circuit layout, we were very strong.

"It was arguably our strongest race of the year, perhaps bar Monaco, in terms of outright pace. What was really encouraging was the pace in the middle sector, where throughout the grand prix Daniel was consistently the quickest car on that part of the track.

"The drivers feel the progress of the car, the balance is improving, the downforce is getting stronger. Hopefully there are some venues coming up that allow us to take the fight to the guys ahead."