Daniel Ricciardo believes his Red Bull team can take the fight to Mercedes at the British Grand Prix after identifying solutions to his lack of pace in Austria.
The Western Australian’s Red Bull team struggled for outright pace at the Red Bull Ring two weeks ago which saw Ricciardo come home in eighth, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel retired.
Since the disappointment at the team’s home circuit, Ricciardo says the squad have found answers to the problems which centered around a failure to generate sufficient heat into the tyres.
As a result, the Canadian Grand Prix winner, who celebrated his 25th birthday this week, is confident his team will close the gap to Mercedes at Silverstone this weekend.
However, he admitted Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg remain the favourites to win Sunday’s race.
“We have gone through a few things and we think we have found some answers,” Ricciardo told assembled media including Speedcafe.
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“We had some issues getting the tyres turned on for not only qualifying but in the race too.There are a few things we think we know the answer too.
“In Austria we didn’t get the car working in the fast flowing high speed corners and if we can be the strong package that are normally are here it will definitely bring us close to the other teams.
“If all things go well we should be the fastest team behind Mercedes.
“I think they will still be quickest but whether that is half a second or two tenths we are yet to find out.
“I like to think that if we can get it all right we can be within a couple of tenths of them.”
Ricciardo has starred at Silverstone in the past with his best result an eighth place for Toro Rosso last year.
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