Daniel Ricciardo expects rivals to close gap on Saturday, but Aussie hoping to stay ahead
Wednesday 8 July 2015 11:44, UK
Felipe Massa admits Williams are behind Red Bull after the opening day of running ahead of the British GP at Silverstone.
Both Williams drivers were off the pace in practice with Massa just breaking into the top 10 in the sessions and Bottas a lowly 12th in P2, having sat out P1 allowing Susie Wolff to drive.
The Grove team have been in a fight with Ferrari to be 'best of the rest' behind Mercedes for much of the season, but instead it was the Red Bull emerging as the third quickest car at Silverstone.
“The Red Bull was better today and Ferrari were better today so we need to understand that other cars are pushing hard and we need to fix everything,” Massa said.
“I think the most important job we need to do tonight is to concentrate on qualifying on the new tyres because I think for the race we are not far.”
The Red Bull duo were keen to play down their pace, though, insisting that no prizes are given out on a Friday.
“We made some good progress today, but we still need to keep working,” said Daniel Ricciardo, who was sixth fastest in P2 right behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
“Relatively the positions are good with both cars in the top six, but I think we can still gain more lap time.
"Williams will close up, they always seem to be a bit more on the money on Saturday, I think they probably run more fuel on Friday. I think with the gap we had today we still should remain in front of them, but let’s see what happens. I think a top five tomorrow, we would be happy with that.”
With Silverstone less of a power-dependent track compared with Canada or Austria, the Renault engine is not such a drain on Red Bull’s performance so perhaps their increased pace shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“We expected this track would be a bit better for us than the previous two, but still it is only Friday and you never know what could happen tomorrow,” said Kvyat.
Red Bull are keen to maximise their performance at Silverstone and the forthcoming race at the Hungaroring before F1 returns to the power hungry tracks of Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.
