Daniel Ricciardo expects to be fastest on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps after feeling that his Red Bull Racing RB13 was missing something in its set-up that left him struggling for speed down the straights.
Both he and team-mate Max Verstappen ran different set-ups on their cars to find ways to limit the straight-line deficit the team have, but the Australian was left well behind the Dutchman in both sessions on Friday, finishing fifth in the morning session and sixth in the afternoon.
Ricciardo is hopeful to have some dry running on Saturday to give him a feel of the new set-up, although he may be battling his team-mate for fifth on the grid such is the pace of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Scuderia Ferrari.
“This track is always a bit of a compromise,” said Ricciardo. “The first and third sector is very fast and in the second sector you need the downforce.
“I tried to be quick in the first and third part, but the compromise wasn’t good enough. I still lost too much in the second sector. Yes there was some traffic as well and without that I could’ve probably gone a few tenths quicker but it still wouldn’t have put me in the Top 5.
“For sure we won’t keep the same set-up tomorrow. Whether we’ll go in Max’s direction or try to find a better compromise between the two we’ll see, but we’ll definitely be stronger tomorrow.
“The objective is not to lose too much time on the straights. For tomorrow it would be good if it was dry, because I’d like to try the ideal set-up and see how much potential we have.”
