Ricciardo believes Red Bull has overcome difficult start to 2017

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he believes that Red Bull Racing has overcome its difficult start to the 2017 Formula 1 Season. Ricciardo did not secure a podium finish in 2017 until the Spanish Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen finished third in China.

Since the race in Spain, Ricciardo has secured three consecutive podium finishes by finishing third in Monaco and Canada, showing positive improvements for the team since the start of the season.  

This improvement in performance came after the team implemented a major update in Barcelona for the start of the European leg of the 2017 season. This update saw both successes and failures, and since then the team have been able to focus their development on the direction that they need to go.

"We have had a bit more consistency with feedback from me and Max in the last few races," Ricciardo revealed. "More what we are saying is now also visible on data, where early in the year it would day one thing but not always show.

"It seems the correlation is a lot better in the last few races and we are now a lot more certain on the direction we need to go. From Barcelona where we had the big update, some things worked and some things didn’t, and it was clearer to see from that point on what is working on this car and what isn’t. We have a proper direction now as opposed to trying to find a bit in the front, a bit in the rear.

"From what I understand from their side they know what they need to do now. We as drivers always knew from fairly early on in the season what we needed in the car, but it was not always that clear to them, it wasn’t on the numbers why, okay so why do we have weaker on the entry, it doesn’t quite add up. But now they can see it."

Chris Soulsby