Ricciardo: 'There might be a bit of action' at the start

Relatively discreet during the first day of the eastern weekend (10th of Free Practice 1), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) established himself as the best representative of the red bull stable. Constantly in front of his teammate Max Verstappen (6th) at nightfall in Abu Dhabi, the Australian driver managed to erase the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) in his last effort of Q3.

Qualified on the second row with his fourth best time, Daniel Ricciardo kept his traditional smile. “I am happy with the end of the session. I'm happy to have overtaken a Ferrari, and I'm happy with the second row. » Despite this positive spirit, the Red Bull clan did not expect to be so far from the first places (more than seven tenths slower than the poleman Lewis Hamilton). “We thought we would be closer to the Ferraris, but as qualifying progressed they were too fast. On my first lap in Q3 I was slow but I felt like I could extract more potential from the car. »

The winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku in June then looked at the behavior of the tires, and miraculously: it worked! “We analyzed the temperature of the tires better and the lap was much better afterwards. I haven't had an extraordinary Saturday this season, so it's nice to end 2017 with a good performance. We were solid all weekend. Tomorrow I think I have an opportunity for a podium”, predicts the Australian.

“However, I don’t think the start will be easy, it’s the last race of the year, everyone wants victory, there could well be a bit of action”, he says.