Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner says the team “will certainly give it all we’ve got” as everyone heads into the final race of the season.
Red Bull sit in a distant third place in the Constructors’ Championship, some 141 points behind second-placed Scuderia Ferrari and 181 points ahead of fourth-placed Sahara Force India F1 Team, though the fight is still on for Daniel Ricciardo. He’s fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, just seven points ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, and was able to qualify just ahead of the Finn. This, Horner says, made it one of the Australian’s best laps of the year.
“Today we saw one of Daniel’s best Qualifying laps of the season to make it on to the second row for the start of tomorrow’s race. He managed to put it all together right at the end of Q3 with an excellent effort.”
Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen however wasn’t able to perform well, only reaching sixth place. This, Horner says, was down to set-up issues – though crucially the team will still come out fighting tomorrow.
“Max is starting in P6 on the grid and has not been happy with his car balance all weekend, and whilst that improved during Qualifying, he still wasn’t totally at ease with the car. As we go into the last race of the year, we will certainly give it all we’ve got. It will be great to finish the season on a high note and hopefully we can sign off on 2017 with that tomorrow.”
