Ricciardo Smacks The Stopwatch With Record Time In Testing

"It was a good day today. I survived!"


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If only this was the real thing.

With 2 weeks until the business begins at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Daniel Ricciardo's showed he's lost none of his speed in pre-season testing in Spain.

For the last couple of seasons, the Aussie's been driving cars that were obviously slower anything with a Mercedes or Ferrari badge on it.

But this season might be different.

A blistering lap time of 1:18.047 around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has us thinking Aston Martin Red Bull Racing might have produced an RB14 capable of winning races on merit.

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After 164 laps, Daniel reckons he could've gone faster.

"I would have liked to get into the 17s, but we'll save that for the racing," he said.

Ricciardo says Red Bull's decision to begin developing the 2018 car much earlier is paying off.

"In terms of the shape we're in, I think we're getting there, we're in a decent place."

"It was a good day today. I survived!"

He didn't just survive - he thrived on the "hypersoft" tyres, a day after sitting out a session due to illness.

Ricciardo isn't getting ahead of himself however, and suspects the Mercs are still the quicker car with Lewis Hamilton setting the second fastest time of the day on "ultrasoft" tyres.

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"I'm sure Mercedes are still the top dogs at the moment but I don't feel we are far off."

"If we can keep finding a few more things we can be very good."

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The 2018 season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix from March 22-25 in Melbourne.

 

Sean Maynard

10 December 2018

Article by:

Sean Maynard




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