Daniel Ricciardo believes Red Bull can keep their rivals behind after topping the first two practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner had seven-tenths of a second in hand over the closest non-Red Bull and was half a second faster than team mate Max Verstappen. Red Bull introduced a new sidepod which is similar in style to that used by Ferrari since the beginning of the season.
Ricciardo told reporters he “expected” Red Bull to be ahead in Singapore.
“I knew we’d come here with a good car,” he said. “I feel prepared so I’m not surprised with our performance today.”
“It’s important that we obviously keep that tomorrow but I have a lot of faith we can stay here all weekend.”
The quickest Ferrari was almost two seconds off Ricciardo’s pace in the second session but he expects they will be much closer on Saturday.
“Seb [Vettel] was there this morning so I think they’ll get it together,” he said. “I don’t know what programme they were on this afternoon.”
“I’m sure we’ll tighten up tomorrow but I still expect we’ll be able to stay where we are.”
Ricciardo laughed off speculation Renault had tried to secure his services for 2018 as part of the change in engine suppliers between McLaren and Toro Rosso.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I’m good-looking and fast.”
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th September 2017, 15:33
funny Daniel, seems he wasn’t interrested in Renault. Maybe an one two for Red Bull that would be good for Richardo. And i saw in video that Riccardo wasn’t givenup the championship and Max would do anything to leave Lewis and Sebastian far behind…
Yes they were joking around but if Lewis and Seb don’t finish you read it here first.
erikje
15th September 2017, 16:08
Let’s hope they fix the engine problems with Max’s car for tomorrow. He had problems deploying the full potential in the straights.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
16th September 2017, 1:15
Erikji l think ric was faster and didnt hit the barrier