- Red Bull
Ricciardo disappointed by recent pace
Daniel Ricciardo admits he expected to see more outright pace from Red Bull at Silverstone and says the team is concerned about the rate its rivals are developing around it.
Ricciardo held off a charging Jenson Button for third at Silverstone after utilising a good strategy call from Red Bull on a weekend the team found itself further behind Williams than it expected to be. McLaren also appeared to be back in the hunt for a podium and Ricciardo thinks Red Bull's rivals have come a long way since the winter.
"I think it's probably the case, as we saw [at Silverstone], Williams really found some more speed," Ricciardo said. "We did expect Silverstone to be a stronger circuit than the past few races. We probably haven't found as much as we thought we could in those races so our strategy helped us get to third, but our strategy was a little worse off than that. We'll just keep trying to find some answers. I think we're still a good car in terms of downforce and the high-speed corners but the others aren't as bad as they were at the start of the season; they've found downforce and still kept a pretty handy car down the straights."
Despite clearly losing ground to Williams over the past few races Ricciardo says Red Bull has to use its rivals' development as motivation for the second half of the season.
"I think, especially in the last few races, they have really made some progress and have been that next team in line. They've been really strong. It's good to see other teams pushing and closing the gap to Mercedes, it makes it more competitive for us but at the same time it gives everyone else a bit more belief and motivation that if Williams can get pole position or lock out the front row they are not invincible - them being Mercedes."
Much has been made of Ricciardo's form compared to Sebastian Vettel in his first season at Red Bull, but the Australian once again made light of that when pressed on it at Hockenheim.
"The secret? I give mine a kiss every night, with tongue!"
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