- Bahrain Grand Prix - FP2
Ricciardo encouraged by FP2 improvement
Daniel Ricciardo is encouraged by the step forward Red Bull took in the evening practice session but admits there is still plenty of work to do to ensure the team stays in its position behind Mercedes.
The opening session of the day was frustrating for Ricciardo as he finished 14th, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished 10th. In the cooler evening session Ricciardo had improved to fourth, three places ahead of Vettel, and he admits the team heads into the weekend on a high.
"We took a lot more positives out of this evening in FP2," Ricciardo said. "In FP1 we played it a little bit around with a few things on the car and had some work to do. I think we made a step forward but we've still got some work to do. It was not a bad day but still plenty of room for improvement. We came here after the first two races being quite competitive we hoped we would be competing in the top five again.
"In the first session it didn't look so good for us so I didn't expect us to make the leap we did in the evening. I think both cars are in the top five or six which isn't too bad but we will keep chipping away. There's always things to improve. One big one you always want to maximise in Formula One is traction, so being able to put the power down, especially with the V6 turbos it's quite easy to spin up the rears."
Ricciardo knows he will have to serve a 10-place grid penalty after an unsafe release from a pit stop in Malaysia, but insists his mentality will not change until the lights go green on Sunday.
"Right now not really," Ricciardo said when asked if his penalty changed his approach to the weekend. "During the race I will make sure my aggression is on and make sure I'm moving forward. But in practice and qualifying not really, I'll just do what I can to make sure we have a good car for Sunday."
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