Daniel Ricciardo believes the Monaco Grand Prix could be “a chance” for Red Bull to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari.
Having been the closest challenger to Mercedes during the 2016 season, the team has seemingly taken a step back in F1’s new era.
Ferrari has taken the fight to Mercedes, with both teams looking equally matched. Red Bull has been a slightly distant third-quickest in the opening five races, although it appeared closer in Spain.
Ricciardo started on pole in Monaco last year and the RB13 is predicted to be better-suited to the street track, so the Australian says there is “a chance” for Red Bull if everything comes together.
“It’s hard to predict,” he said. “I think it was in Bahrain, we seemed relatively strong in qualifying without too much of an answer and then we bring the update and we’re kind of still there, with that same gap.
“I think this weekend is a chance. If you put everything together in qualifying round here it can give you a good chunk of lap times.
“It’s just having that level of confidence around here which helps and then we’ll see, see what happens after this weekend. This one’s fun, yeah, looking forward to it.”
Having lost a potential victory in Monaco in 2016 after a pitstop error, Ricciardo admits he has “unfinished business” at the race, adding: “I will do what I can. I definitely come here with still good feelings, good vibes.
“The level of confidence is still high. We’ve got some new parts on the car. We had them in Barcelona, we saw it gave us bits and pieces but not as much as we obviously still desire.
“We’ve got more this weekend and probably more Monaco-specific as well, so hopefully that will give us more than it did a couple of weeks ago and give us a chance to start leaning on the front guys a bit more.”
