Autosportfoto

Ricciardo bemused by half-second gain in qualifying trim

Daniel Ricciado feels Red Bull's improvement of half a second in deficit to the pole position time between China and Bahrain came as a pleasant surprise and could lead to further gains if it proves to be a fundamental area of development.

Ricciardo says Red Bull is currently running with a high downforce set-up on the RB13 in order to increase grip during qualifying which the Australian gives partial credit for taking fourth on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix and being eight-tenths off of pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas.

The Red Bull driver says a half-second gain in qualifying between China and Bahrain was a shock and feels an untapped area of development can be utilised with its 2017 car.

"We are still running quite a bit of downforce on the car because we feel that is a weakness at the moment so we are not under winging it," Ricciardo said. "We are trying to give the car as much grip as it has got, so it is tough.

"Because in China we were 1.3 off pole, and in Bahrain we are less than eight tenths off, so it is about half a second turnaround, and for what we don't know. We probably learned a bit more about tyres but nothing feels like it should have been half a second.

"I don't quite understand it. Maybe the engineers do or will so that is encouraging that the speed is there. If we really understand it we will find even more."

The qualifying gains have given Ricciardo a timely confidence boost on Red Bull's chances of breaking into the podium places sooner than predicted if it can maximise its potential developments.

"I feel like the lap time we got in Bahrain has been for free because we don't really feel like it has been something fundamental yet," he said. "We are a bit closer and if we actually put something on the car that we know is definitely going to be better then it can really put us closer.

"In China I was pessimistic about us being on the podium in equal conditions so maybe it will be sooner that we think."

Zdroj: crash.net