- US GP - Qualifying
Strategy key to challenging Williams - Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo thinks Red Bull can challenge Williams for a spot on the podium at the United States Grand Prix, especially with race strategy likely to play an important role.
Williams locked out the second row behind Mercedes in qualifying but Ricciardo finished just a tenth behind Felipe Massa. Even though Williams has impressive straight-line speed Ricciardo thinks the Circuit of the Americas plays into Red Bull's hands, as does the fact he believes it will be a two-stop race.
"I'm definitely optimistic for the race," Ricciardo said. "There's obviously a couple of things; they've got some really good straight-line speed but I think strategy will be more of a factor this year, it looks like a two-stop race. There's some room to go with that.
"I also think the track naturally allows you to overtake, even with perhaps an inferior car in areas. Because of the wide apexes you can come from a little bit longer back and just square up the corner a bit more. I'm trying not to give away too many secrets but we've seen in previous years people can come from a fair way back and it's a good place for overtaking. As long as we're hanging around then we'll have a go. I don't really think we have much to lose so let's have some fun out there."
Ricciardo's team-mate Sebastian Vettel will start tomorrow's race from the pit lane, meaning his focus in practice has been devoted to long-run pace. Despite having no qualifying data from his team-mate Ricciardo thinks there are benefits for Red Bull from that situation.
"In a way it's quite cool he's done a lot of race runs. Looking ahead to the race we've probably got quite good info. The quali stuff, it would have been nice to have two cars with a bit more information but for me it was nice to just do my own thing and just learn from myself. Generally thinking I think it was alright.
"We would obviously always want more when we're not right at the front but we're pretty happy with that. I think what we're most happy with is the progress made through quali. In Q1 we were a fair way off, we kept tuning the car. We can't do much but on front wing and tyre pressures I think we found a better balance each run so to see the rate of progression in that one hour and close the gap on Williams was good. We're really close to Felipe but it's really encouraging for the race."
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