Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed the first day of practice around the streets of Monte Carlo on Thursday, with the Australian showing good speed as he set the second fastest time of the day behind Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull Racing driver had finished fifth fastest in first practice with a time of 1:13.854s, but improved to a 1:13.207s in the afternoon to finish 0.487 seconds behind Vettel but 0.076 seconds faster than the second Scuderia Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen.
Ricciardo feels confident in the way his RB13 is handling around the Monaco circuit, and he hopes to make it even better ahead of Saturday’s final practice session, before he attacks qualifying with the aim of collecting his second career pole position a year after securing his first at the same venue.
“Regardless of how the car feels it is always so much fun to drive this track,” said Ricciardo. “We are looking pretty good at the moment.
“We put some good laps together and know where we need to improve so I’m very happy with our position after the first day. We have good downforce here, the rear of the car feels like it is working the best it has so far this year.
“If we can get the tyres warmed up I think we can be pretty close on Saturday. I’m pleased with the cars rhythm and set-up which gives me confidence and makes me feel we are back in that groove after the first couple of practice sessions.
“I don’t think we need to do too much to the car set-up wise at the moment, just a couple of small tweaks overnight perhaps. Being the first time round here with the new cars it definitely felt a little bit tighter so that needs to be considered when pushing on quick laps, but as I said, so much fun as always.”
