Ricciardo anxious ahead of Chinese GP
Apr 7, 2017 - 12:31 AM Daniel Ricciardo isn't confident the technical issue that led to his miserable Australian Grand Prix has been solved for China.The Australian has blamed a lack of rear downforce for Red Bull's undoing in Melbourne last month, when he crashed during qualifying and failed to finish the season-opening Formula One race.
"We don't have enough rear grip, so downforce basically," Ricciardo said in Shanghai ahead of Sunday's Chinese GP.
"I don't know if we don't have enough or we haven't set the car up in the right way.
"I still feel that we haven't got the most out of the downforce.
""I don't think we have understood it well enough yet to get the most out of it with set-up and ride heights, that sort of thing."
Ricciardo said Red Bull would be taking cues from Ferrari and Mercedes, which went one-two respectively in Melbourne as Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
"I definitely believe we have learned some stuff from Melbourne with set-up, and we have a few bits and pieces here," Ricciardo said.
"That should help us have a bit more grip in the rear.
"There are a few other things that came out that. I don't expect us to be as far off as in Melbourne. I feel I come here with a bit more of a comfortable car."
His Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who finished fifth in Melbourne, said closing the gap on the top-two teams was unlikely to prove a short-term prospect in China.
"It's quite a big gap, but I'm quite confident that we can definitely close it in the upcoming races to within a second and then we'll see when we get the bigger upgrades also from the engine side," Verstappen said.
Another factor could be the weather, with heavy rain forecast to hit Shanghai International Circuit on the weekend.
Britain's Hamilton admitted the conditions had made him apprehensive due to his lack of experience with a new wet-weather tyre.
Vettel, who leads the championship race for the first time since 2013, said adaption was key.
"It's a demanding track with the cars, the tyres in particular, but also the drivers with the conditions, so impossible to predict anything," he said.
Source: AAP
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