Daniel Ricciardo topped the time charts on the second day of the second pre-season test at Barcelona, Spain. The Australian was at the wheel of the RB14 the whole day. This is Ricciardo’s penultimate day of testing before he heads to his home Grand Prix, the Australian GP.
Daniel Ricciardo Confident Red Bull Can Challenge Mercedes
Mercedes has dominated the V6 Turbo-Hybrid Engine era. Since 2014, the Silver Arrows has collected four consecutive constructors’ and drivers’ titles. All the other teams have tried their hardest to compete with the class-leading team. Every year it has been getting closer.
Ferrari laid down the gauntlet early in 2017. But after the summer break their challenge evaporated. Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes continued their title-winning spree. Red Bull Racing seemed to close the gap to the top 2 teams as the season came to an end. Max Verstappen racked up two wins in the last six races of the season. This set the tone for the Milton Keynes-based team for 2018. Red Bull has had a good run in the pre-season tests, not withstanding small niggles here and there.
Ricciardo Confident
A confident Ricciardo said:“We are getting there. The Mercs still look pretty quick. I don’t believe that they are on the hypersofts. I think Lewis might have been on the ultra, from what I heard. Maybe [Valtteri] Bottas as well. I am not sure. I think a few tenths is in the tyre. And I guess their qualifying mode, when they decided to use it, will probably be a bit more than ours as well.
“I think that they still have a bit more on the rest, but it is not too bad. We are looking pretty good. Not really sure about Ferrari at the moment, but we are in a decent place. We made some good changes to the car today, so I think we are better than we were 12 months ago, let’s say that much.
“I feel the balance is similar to how it is last year, but I feel where our car was good last year I feel we’ve made that even better, so our strengths have become stronger. The last sector, traction, things like this, the car feels quite strong, so this is a good base for now.
“We will still work on a few weaknesses but generally it does not feel too bad. Mercedes are still quick, if everything was equal right now they still have a little bit on the rest, but I don’t think it is too big. So it seems positive.”
“I think that, looking at it now we are close. I still don’t know where Ferrari are, I’m quite confident Mercedes are probably just in front of us but Ferrari I’m not sure. But I think we’re going to be much closer than last year.”
Ricciardo and Red Bull will hope the good performance at testing translates into results when the season starts. The team had a slow start to 2017 and was further set behind with reliability issues. With two of the best young drivers on the grid, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, a fast RB14 could see them challenge for both titles.
Second Pre-Season Day 2 Testing Report: https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsports/2018/03/08/formula-1-testin…-charts-on-day-2/
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