- First Barcelona Test - Day One
Ricciardo confident of Red Bull progress since Jerez
Daniel Ricciardo thinks the first day of testing in Barcelona proved Red Bull and Renault have solved the bigger issues which hampered their running in Jerez.
Ricciardo recovered from a slow start on Thursday morning to record 59 laps in the camouflaged RB11, with a 1:25.167 set on the medium tyre good enough to put him third. It was still four tenths off the time set by second-placed Kimi Raikkonen but Ricciardo says the main focus is on how Red Bull fares, especially after an issue-laden opening test in Jerez.
"I think the bigger problems seemed to be solved today, now it's just about fine-tuning and just getting it a bit more driveable, I guess, and getting the power down when we need it etc," Ricciardo said. "But in terms of global problems it was OK. Today, for sure we didn't do 100 laps, but we didn't have to go through any engine change like we did in Jerez. We're definitely making progress on that front."
When asked if it was frustrated Red Bull was still off the headline times, Ricciardo was quick to point out it is still only pre-season.
"It's still too early to get frustrated. I'm not frustrated but testing is a bit frustrating in general, I just want to go racing really! No, I think by Melbourne we'll be there and if in the first few races we're still not there we'll get frustrated but it's still too early to get pessimistic with that.
"I've seen it all before in testing, I'm not worried yet. I say yet, I'm not worried at all. It's just the joys of testing, you deal with unknowns the whole time. I think that's more the frustrating part, not knowing what fuel load or how much more we have. That's why I just want to get to Melbourne where everyone has the same tyre, the same fuel, and then we see."
Red Bull endured a frustrating winter this time last year and Ricciardo says that is good motivation for the team this time around.
"We're riding on that a lot. On days where we don't complete as many laps as we would like we just look back 12 months and say 'we're alright, we'll get there'. That's obviously a real good thing to have in our pocket and a thing in the head for everyone to stay motivated. Obviously there are teams looking a little better at this stage but once we get to Melbourne we'll be good."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
