Friday: Red Bull and Vettel Relieved!
After disastrous winter testing, the first official day of 2014 was a pleasant surprise for Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, finishing in the leading group without experiencing any technical problems.
Sebastian Vettel (No. 1) – 7th and 4th
The day was rather interesting for the Austrian team, which did not encounter any problems. The four-time world champion even had the luxury of being the most diligent during the second free practice session: « In a way, it’s a relief, the fact that we’re driving, we didn’t have the slightest problem, the balance was good, and the performance seemed correct. »
He reminds that, in terms of performance, one should not focus too much on Friday’s times: « In the end, Friday’s times are not very representative, but it’s better to be close to the best than somewhere at the back, so I’m happy. »
« We will do what we can to prepare for tomorrow and Sunday, but then we will see where we are at; the most important thing is that we finish, » he concluded.
Daniel Ricciardo (No. 3) – 5th and 6th
The Australian is, above all, impressed by the quality of his team’s work in resolving a large part of the issues encountered in Jerez and Bahrain: « I knew the guys were doing everything they could since the tests, but still, we didn’t expect to do so many laps today, so I’m really happy and thrilled for them. »
In addition to having done a lot of laps, the Red Bulls have been performing well, and Ricciardo wants to focus on that, while waiting for the qualification to really gauge their position: « I think we need to be very positive with our position today. We expected Mercedes to be the fastest, but we were less than a second behind, so it’s much better than we thought. Let’s see if it’s the same story after the qualification tomorrow, but for today, we are happy. »
