Daniel Ricciardo impresses in China despite Red Bull being a ‘handful’

AUSTRALIAN Daniel Ricciardo has explained why his car is such a ‘handful’ right now compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.

F1 Grand Prix of China - Previews

RED Bull racing is discussing a design breakthrough, but sadly it has nothing to do with Daniel Ricciardo’s new hair cut.

As Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted his team can’t hope to challenge series leaders Mercedes and Ferrari, Australian Daniel Ricciardo said his RB12 is “a handful” right now ahead of Sunday night’s China Grand Prix in Shanghai.

The 26-year-old says “balance” issues are behind the uncomfortable feel of his Red Bull heading into qualifying.

Ricciardo finished the second practice session overnight as the fifth fastest driver, but was more than a second behind pace-setter Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari.

Raikkonen was just 0.11 secs ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel while Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished the first day of practice third and fourth fastest.

Ricciardo said he is pleased with his car’s performance, despite its difficulties to produce a smooth lap on the Shanghai International Circuit.

“Looking at the lap times we are fairly satisfied but probably more satisfied that we are pretty close,” Ricciardo said.

“But I feel that there is still a lot to come from the balance. If we find what I am after, we will be a lot closer. Considering everything today I am pretty happy.

“I assume that most guys are struggling for balance because we seem relatively competitive but the car is a bit of a handful today. So I assume it was like that for everyone.

“We saw quite a few guys spin this morning, so the wind was having quite a big effect. Interesting. The long runs seemed more promising at the end with the soft tire. The pace did not look too bad.”

Slicks.

Rain is forecast for Sunday’s race and Ricciardo admits he would welcome the chance to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes in wet conditions.

“It should give us a bit more of a chance, so if it comes then we shouldn’t be too bad,” he said. “I’d say a top five would be a bit more predictable.”

Horner said his team his team is still depending on a new power unit in the second half of the year to try and catch Ferrari and Mercedes.

“The last couple of races we’ve had arguably the third fastest car,” he said.

“It’s a very tight pack fighting over that third place and the jump then to where those two teams are is quite a significant one.

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“We’re hoping with the development on the power unit, that we expect around Montreal (June 12) to make progress certainly in the second half of the year.”

Meanwhile, Horner has warned Formula 1 is nowhere near an agreement to ensure all teams have access to competitive and cheaper engines from 2018 and time is running out.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) has asked the four engine manufacturers to come up with a plan by the end of April to ensure no team is left without power units in future.

“I think it’s a complex situation but, fundamentally, there were four criteria that were requested by the governing body to be met to ensure stability moving forward,” Horner told reporters at the Chinese Grand Prix.

“As we sit here now, we are not anywhere near having met any of those criteria,” he added.

“I think unfortunately what will happen, as is often the case with these things, (is that) time will run out at the end of the month and nothing will be achieved - nothing will change.”

RB12.

The FIA and the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone have threatened to introduce a cheaper independent engine if manufacturers fail to reach an agreement.

The main criteria were for a power unit supply to cost 12 million euros ($A17.5 million) per season, for the supply to be guaranteed, performance gaps to narrow and engines to be louder. Red Bull struggled to secure an engine for this season after falling out with long-term engine supplier Renault.

They eventually reached a deal to continue with the French manufacturer after Mercedes ruled out a supply, Ferrari offered only an old engine and Honda’s interest was vetoed by sole partners McLaren.

Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff said all parties were working hard to find common ground by the deadline but it was impossible to satisfy everyone.

“Christian isn’t so happy. But I think we need to come up with a solution until (by) the end of April,” he said.

“We need to ratify those regulations and, at the moment, everybody is working very hard to at least find the smallest common denominator.”

— with AAP