Daniel Ricciardo: “Since I’ve been with the team, we’re always playing catch-up”

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo vents his frustrations regarding the team being on the back foot since the start of the season.

In what seems to be a recurring chain of events, Red Bull’s Formula One team finds itself on the back foot once more. As the gap between Ferrari and Mercedes extends ahead of them, the drivers are piping up in regards to the deficit. Daniel Ricciardo, who managed to finish in 4th place in the Chinese Grand Prix, has acknowledged that although the team is trailing pack leaders Mercedes and Ferrari, they have found themselves a step back from where they were last season:

“It’s not like we’re looking for three, four tenths, we’re looking for more than a second – that doesn’t happen overnight.

We always feel once we get to Europe, things start to brighten up for us. I’d like to say by the time we get to Barcelona we can get that below a second and then chip away at it.

We expected to be closer. Right now we’re too far away, but we don’t have a massive cure yet to say ‘by this race, we’re going to be on their pace’.” – Daniel Ricciardo

The Red Bull boys have put in excellent showings with what they’ve had to work with so far. Ricciardo’s Australian woes aside the pair do truly have the potential to fight with the likes of Hamilton and Vettel for the championship, but only if the power deficit is addressed in a timely manner. There hasn’t been an conclusive answer as to what exactly the team is lacking, but it does seem to be grating a bit with Ricciardo:

“Our ability to develop is strong, and I think that’s where we were particularly good last year, but it’s not a strength not starting on the front foot – that’s a weakness.

Unfortunately, since I’ve been with the team, we’re always playing catch-up from the start of the year.” – Daniel Ricciardo

Even when Ricciardo is addressing issues within the team, one can be sure that he’s doing so with his trademark good humor and smiles-all-around attitude. Whether or not that stays for the rest of the season is up to Red Bull.