Ricciardo secures fourth on Budapest grid to equal Red Bull's best result of 2015; Australian says recent aero updates working well
Monday 27 July 2015 14:17, UK
Daniel Ricciardo has tipped Red Bull to challenge Ferrari for the final podium position in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after impressively splitting Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen on the grid.
On a circuit that was expected to suit the Renault-powered RB11 more than most, Ricciardo matched his and Red Bull’s best qualifying performance of the year to set the fourth-fastest time having shown well for single-lap pace on Friday.
The Australian already has a special affinity for the Hungaroring after claiming a brilliant second career victory here 12 months ago. The fact he also qualified fourth last year wasn’t lost on him but while he'll probably need wet weather and safety car interruptions again to beat the Mercedes cars, Ricciardo believes Red Bull can certainly challenge Ferrari for a first podium of 2015.
“I was aware I got fourth here last year in qualy and obviously won – today I could have got pole but I’m very superstitious and fourth was better!” he joked.
“I think we can challenge Ferrari. Even if they are a little bit quicker we have a new set of option [tyres] if we do a two-stop race and maybe that will put us back in the fight.
“So we’ve got a few things that can work in our advantage tomorrow.”
In one of the most impressive qualifying performances of Saturday, Ricciardo ultimately came up just 0.035s shy of Vettel’s third-fastest time – although the 26-year-old doesn’t reckon he let a chance to get one over on his former team-mate slip.
“Obviously really close to Seb but the lap was good to be honest – I was happy with it,” he admitted. “[There wasn't] really anywhere where I thought I put a wheel wrong, I don’t feel like I left anything on the table. So frustrating in a way to be close, but I was happy with the lap so the way I see it, it was good to be that close.”
The sight of former world champions Red Bull even challenging for the second row has been a rare occurrence this season amid engine supplier Renault’s continued struggle to find a breakthrough with their power unit.
Team boss Christian Horner also conceded recently that “the [chassis] regulation changes over the winter did hurt us – probably more than we anticipated”, with Red Bull subsequently improving the RB11’s aerodynamic package over recent months.
And off the back of an encouraging sixth-place finish for Daniil Kvyat at Silverstone, Ricciardo believes the team's updates are really showing their worth in such high-downforce conditions.
“It’s a bit of both. The circuit here helps us but I really feel that the updates have come to life a bit more here using maximum downforce,” he said. “This circuit is a strength of ours but I did feel already from yesterday morning when I left the garage the car felt more together and I had more confidence in it.
“I was able to lean against on it a bit more and feel the car over the bumps, so it’s definitely showing signs of progress.”
Ricciardo has himself endured a relatively poor run of results recently and Saturday was only the second time in the last six races that he has outqualified younger team-mate Kvyat.
Asked if he felt his strong qualifying result reflected a step forward in his own performance, Ricciardo replied: “To be honest, this weekend I don’t feel I’ve done anything different. From Friday morning I was just happy with the car and we didn’t really change much all weekend.
“We didn’t drive frustrated for too long – every time I went out the car felt pretty decent and I just got on with it. I don’t know whether it’s just luck or whatever, but right from the start it was a better weekend.”
The blow-up of a used engine in Practice Two aside, Red Bull have impressed throughout the weekend and Ricciardo isn't concerned that a forecast drop in Hungary's sweltering temperatures will send them off course on Sunday.
“It seems in the hot conditions we’re performing well and I’d like to think in the cooler conditions we’ll do well tomorrow," he declared.
