Daniel Ricciardo had a strong Friday at Silverstone, finishing fifth in the opening session before moving up to second place in the afternoon.
The Red Bull Racing was particularly strong in the second session, ending just 0.391 seconds shy of the front running pace of Lewis Hamilton, but the Australian does not feel the team will be in contention with Mercedes come race day.
Instead, Ricciardo feels the team will be fighting for the podium places with Scuderia Ferrari, and says Red Bull’s long run pace will be crucial to a strong result.
“Generally today was really good,” said Ricciardo. “It’s always hard to know where the others are but I think we’re pretty happy and the longer runs seemed to be a bit more competitive so we’re getting there. Not a bad Friday.
“We look fairly good compared to Lewis at the moment but I feel they’ll have a bit more at their disposal tomorrow. I especially wanted to get on top of the race runs today and understand it a bit better, as that was a weakness last week in Austria. I think we’re doing alright.
“Sunday could be a really good fight with Ferrari for a podium. Hopefully we can make those tyres last a bit longer and get up there.”
