Daniel Ricciardo has voiced a word of caution regarding the perceived performance capabilities of RB, despite experiencing a promising commencement to the pre-season trials in Bahrain on Wednesday.
During the afternoon session, the Australian recorded the day’s fourth quickest lap, showcasing RB’s advancements towards matching the performance levels of their more established counterpart, Red Bull Racing.
The team has adopted numerous components permitted under the 2024 regulations to achieve this.
Despite these enhancements, the VCARB-01, RB’s latest machine, retains several distinctive attributes. Ricciardo acknowledged the vehicle’s competence, describing it as a “decent car.” However, he also sought to moderate expectations about their competitive position.
On the same day, Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing topped the time sheets, establishing a significant 1.1-second lead over his competitors, including Ricciardo who secured a place among the front runners.
Given that pre-season testing times are notoriously misleading indicators of actual competitive speed—teams often hide their full potential while testing various components—the initial outcomes hint at a promising direction for Ricciardo and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
The duo has their sights set on contending within the higher echelons of the midfield. Nonetheless, at 34, Ricciardo remains cautious, preferring to temper expectations for the time being.
Ricciardo spoke to the media after the first day of testing; “I think, start of the season, we need to be a little bit cautious.
“I think the target as the season goes on is the front of the midfield, but I think I would say now where we are it’s probably more in the midfield. I’m not sure we’re yet at the front, but that is certainly our target.
“I know some people are quite excited about us coming into the season, but I want to play a little bit cautious because we have a decent car, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Ricciardo found himself excluded from pre-season testing the previous year, taking on the role of third driver for Red Bull following his sudden departure from McLaren.
This year, however, he expressed his satisfaction at being actively involved from the start, looking forward to participating in two additional half-day sessions.
“It’s nice to get the first day done and go to sleep quite happy to have driven an F1 car again,” he said.
“I think because we got out a little bit late, the programmer then was a little bit rushed, so we didn’t have that much time to debrief and discuss too many setup changes.
“So tonight we’ll do that, Yuki is back in the car tomorrow morning, so try to give them as much info as possible before they start tomorrow.”
As the team is poised to possibly commence the season within the midfield group—a notable advancement from their position at the same juncture last year, when AlphaTauri faced challenges in accruing points during the initial half of 2023.
Ricciardo was queried about the areas where RB could achieve the greatest improvements on their vehicle this year.
He answered; “I mean, it’s really going to come from aero. It’s really where all us midfield teams talk about, to catch those top teams. It’s trying to find those gains in aero – it’s aero and then there’s drag as well.
“So sometimes you can find load and remove drag, and that’s really the key. I think that’s what the top teams have done really well, so that’s where we need to work on.”
