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Praise for Ricciardo after topping FP1

15:29, 06 Apr 2018

byAdam Newton

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has praised Daniel Ricciardo after his timesheet topping performance in FP1, saying that the Aussie is on “good form”.

Ricciardo just missed out on a podium in his home race in Australia, finishing P4 behind Kimi Raikkonen, as he tried and ultimately failed to overtake the Finn for a lot of the race.

He will be looking to score his and his team’s first podium of the season in Bahrain and his weekend is off to the best start possible, finishing more than three tenths ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P2 and Raikkonen in P3.

Horner told Sky Sports: “He’s in good form, I think the car is performing well as well to be honest with you.

“It was a sensible session for us there, just tuning the car into the conditions, but obviously that will change again later this afternoon and evening when the track cools off.”

Horner also spoke about Red Bull’s prospects for the rest of the weekend, and believes that they will have a good chance in the race, even if their qualifying pace is not quite what Mercedes and Ferrari are capable of.

“I think on Sunday we should be (competitive),” he said, “obviously on Saturday we don’t have the party modes available to us, but on Sunday we should have a much better race car.”