Daniel Ricciardo feels there is still more to come from Red Bull Racing after ending the first practice day in Canada with the fifth fastest time.
After ending the first session down in eleventh, Ricciardo was able to improve up into the top five in the second session, and was happy to be back driving in order to put the disappointment of losing the race win in Monaco behind him.
Ricciardo believes the long run pace for both himself and team-mate Max Verstappen could be improved upon, and is looking to unlock more of the potential of the RB12 overnight.
“Obviously nice to be driving again for sure, and it’s a nice circuit – I enjoy it here,” said Ricciardo. “I think the day was ok; we can still find some more speed so we’ll work hard tonight to hopefully find some good solutions which can put us towards the top four tomorrow and close to Ferrari.
“Mercedes looked strong today, their long run pace was probably more impressive than their short run pace so that’s where I think we need to improve. Our long runs can be better for both me and Max, so that’s what we’ll look at tonight.
“On Sunday the weather looks like it could change, so we will wait and see as it will affect things. I expect the gap to Lewis [Hamilton] to be less than a second tomorrow, how much less I’m not sure but I think we can close the gap quite a lot from today.”
