- Abu Dhabi GP - FP2
Ricciardo wants farewell Vettel duel
Daniel Ricciardo is relishing the opportunity to fight with outgoing Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the third and final spot on the podium in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull looked competitive in the pack behind Mercedes on Friday, with Ricciardo two tenths down on Vettel in the crucial FP2 qualifying simulations. Vettel's move to Ferrari was finally confirmed on Thursday and Ricciardo thinks it would be a perfect send-off for his Red Bull team-mate to have an in-house duel.
"Hopefully," Ricciardo laughed when asked about a duel with Vettel. "I don't know if there are any team orders, maybe they won't go his way! No, all jokes aside, he was completive today and hopefully we're fighting for that spot on the podium. That would be nice to end a battle with him and end the season like that - it could be a good farewell for him and the team."
All eyes are on Mercedes this weekend with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battling for the title at the season finale. Red Bull expects to be in the best of the rest category behind but Ricciardo, who is the only non-Mercedes driver to stand on the top step of the podium in 2014, thinks the double points finale could change the cools heads on pit walls across the grid.
"We got all the laps in, which was important, and we got to do long runs on both compounds so we achieved all we could on a run plan. It's a usual Friday night, see how we go and learn from what we can. Obviously Mercedes I won't even mention! They're fighting for the title so we'll let them go. It looks pretty tight as always for third place.
"We'll definitely try and do something [with strategy]. On super soft we weren't lapping that quick but we were seeing how quick it could go to keep our options open for Sunday. It's the final race of the season and there's a few people maybe more excited than others so strategy can maybe work to our advantage in some way we'll do that."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
