Ricciardo insists Red Bull is ready for Melbourne
Lead driver dispels questions over lack of pace and reliability ahead of season opening Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo believes that Red Bull is ready for the challenge of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, despite a series of setbacks in pre-season testing.
Ricciardo was forced to walk back from his stranded car in the opening minutes of the final test at Barcelona on Sunday, following an ERS problem.
“For me personally, I feel ready to race – we’ll be good for Melbourne,” he said.
“We did a bit on the lower fuel (today), I guess more performance style, then we did some longer runs as well.
“So, yeah, I think it was OK. The good news is we’re going to Melbourne.”
When asked about where he sees Red Bull in the overall pecking order, he replied: “It’s hard to say.
“I mean, I think Mercedes are the ones in front, then I think it’s pretty close between Williams, Ferrari and us at the moment. We’ll see in Melbourne.”
On the subject of the reliability issues the team has suffering, including the ERS problem on the Renault power unit this morning, he said: “It’s not too worrying, it happens and it’s still early on.
“You’d prefer not to have them, for sure, but it’s better than last year!”
Red Bull now has some upcoming filming days at Barcelona, and Ricciardo hopes that will be of benefit ahead of the opening Grand Prix.
“Every bit of mileage we can do helps,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of those coming – they’re definitely more for the guys behind the laptops.”
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