Daniel Ricciardo believes Ferrari holds the advantage at the Hungarian Grand Prix and has stressed that Red Bull must aim for the first two rows of the grid to realise its victory ambitions.
Red Bull has targeted the Hungaroring as one of its strongest venues due the reduced reliance on engine power, and Ricciardo topped FP1 before falling to third in FP2, behind Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Max Verstappen.
Red Bull typically slips back from contention when rivals Ferrari and Mercedes turn up the power for qualifying, and Ricciardo has stressed the importance of the team avoiding being relegated to the third row.
Hungarian Grand Prix: FP1 results | FP2 results | Photo Gallery
“That’s always the difficult one for us, to continue like this,” said Ricciardo, who has qualified on row three at seven of the 11 Grands Prix held so far this year.
“I think we can continue, it’s just the others find a bit more. I’m sure Mercedes will find more tomorrow on one lap.
“Ferrari already seem fast so I think now they are probably the target that everyone’s trying to chase.
“I still think on one lap today we didn’t execute it perfectly, so I’m confident there’s still a few tenths in our package, but even with a good race car – which we have in all the long runs – the first row is what I want to qualify on. No doubt.
“But second row might not still be a disaster. We don’t want to be on the third, but the top two, we’ll aim for that.”
Added Verstappen: “Our car is good, but we lose a lot on the straight unfortunately.
“So we have to work even more on our car to try and get a bit more of an advantage. I think we can still gain a bit more out of the car.”
