Daniel Ricciardo revealed he was finally able to get some performance running in during his third day in the Red Bull Racing RB13 on day one of test two at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday.
The Australian completed 89 laps and set the second fastest time of the day on the Ultrasoft Pirelli tyre, although he admitted that the difference between that and the Soft tyre was not that great. He was 0.174 seconds down on the pace set by Williams Martini Racing’s Felipe Massa, although the Brazilian’s time was set on Supersofts.
“I felt we performed well on the Softs this morning and we did quite a few good runs on that,” said Ricciardo. “We were also able to start doing some performance runs today.
“We tried the softer compounds and while my best time was on the Ultrasoft it was actually not much quicker than the soft. I think we learned something from that. Generally I’m happy with what we got out of this morning and in terms of where we were last week I feel like the car is starting to come alive more.”
Ricciardo feels there is still more to come with the RB13, but believes that every driver and team up and down the grid will be thinking the same, but as his time in the car goes on he feels happier and happier.
“This afternoon we focused more on longer runs,” said Ricciardo. “We only got a few in, but it was enough to know how the tyres work after a few laps. We definitely feel we can still get more out of the car – I think everyone can – but it’s looking alright.
“It’s now my third day in the car and from day one to day two and now day three, I’m more and more happy with it.”