Ricciardo: Red Bull the Fastest

Red Bull couldn't fight Ferrari and Mercedes directly on track, but the timing screens showed promise for them.

He might not have got that home podium that he wanted so badly, but Daniel Ricciardo believes he was driving the fastest car of all the top runners on Sunday. He fought Kimi Raikkonen for fourth place but was unable to get by the Finn but did manage to set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix which he believes is a good sign going forward.

"I think we're really close to Ferrari's pace," the Australian told Sky F1 after his joint-best result at his home race. "We were definitely one of, if not the quickest car on track today.

"Hopefully that's representative moving forward, I think we've still got to find pace on one lap but the race pace is good."

"I obviously tried to do all I could with Kimi," he added. "It's a tight track, it is tricky to overtake but we set the fastest lap and that's really good signs for things to come in the next few weeks."

Teammate Max Verstappen had an uncharacteristically poor race, making a vital error whilst chasing Kevin Magnussen for fourth place having lost out at the start, sending him spinning him down the order into 8th position, a fair effort considering Red Bull did find damage on the car after his trip across the grass at turns one and two. He also agreed with Ricciardo's assessment of the car after recovering to pressure Fernando Alonso in the McLaren for fifth.

"As soon as we were in clean air the pace was good,

"We don't need to worry, we just need to focus on getting a clean qualifying and then in the race everything should sort itself out."

Suddenly I had a lot of issues with the car, balance problems, and we found out after four or five laps something broke off the car,

"All the time in the middle of the corner I was losing a lot of grip and at one point I got caught out at Turn One and spun.

"It's not ideal but luckily with the 360 I didn't lose too many positions. After that you are in the hunt but you can't overtake on this track so it's a bit of a shame.

"With the circumstances we were in, the damage we had, we still scored some points."