- Red Bull
F1 needs multi-car battles for fans - Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo admits there is no way of sugar coating the extent of Mercedes' advantage heading into the 2015 season and says the likes of Red Bull need to catch up for the good of the sport.
The competitive order in pre-season testing had a familiar feel as Mercedes appeared to maintain the large advantage it held at the end of last season.
"Mercedes looked to be fast - I won't sugar coat it, they will be very hard to beat at least for the first few races from what it looks like," Ricciardo said. "But you never know, hopefully we get a pleasant surprise.
"Behind them it's pretty close. I think with us, Ferrari, Williams we all look to be next in line. So I think if we put it all together we can definitely fight for at least that last spot on the podium this weekend and we'll see; try to apply as much pressure to the Mercs as possible.
"But it's still early days and nobody has really been on track at the same time with the same tyre and the same tyre and all that yet. Until Saturday we're not really going to know but I'll definitely be doing what I can to get it as far up the grid as possible."
Mercedes' advantage hints at another period of domination by a single team in F1, but Ricciardo said it is up to the chasing pack to close the gap and make racing more exciting for fans.
"It's hard because obviously Mercedes has done a very good job to be in the position that they are in and have the strengths that they have. Last year I took my hat off to them for bringing the package they had and this year it looks like they will be strong again. But I think it's important or good for the sport to at least have a multi-car fight for some race wins. If Mercedes goes out and wins every race it's not great for the fans because they always want variation and it's just natural that's what people want.
"It's hard to point the finger at Mercedes to say 'you guys need to slow down' because that's just how the sport goes. It's really everyone else's job to catch up and hopefully we can. 'We' being us, Williams, Ferrari and whoever else - a multi-car fight is fun and that's what we want to do at the end of the day. We want to battle and I think if Lewis or Nico won every race this year by 20 seconds and driving the whole race by themselves, they'll enjoy the winning part but in the race itself they would love to have a battle, we always enjoy a good battle. It would be cool to have a few more, we'll see what happens. But it is up to us though."
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