Ricciardo doesn't want a penalty for Bottas despite impeding

Daniel Ricciardo says that he doesn't want Valtteri Bottas to receive a penalty for impeding. The Finn interrupted Ricciardo's fast lap during the second practice session in Bahrain, with the two very nearly colliding after Turn 3.

However Ricciardo says that he won't push for a penalty, understanding that Bottas wasn't told on the radio about him fast approaching: "I don’t want Valtteri to get a penalty," he said.

"This is practice and it’s frustrating but I don’t think anyone agreed with my penalty last week and I don’t want to start that game.  I believe he wasn’t told on the radio, so it’s probably not his fault."

Despite being the slowest out of the top three teams on one-lap pace, Red Bull looked strongest in the long runs. But Ricciardo admits he wasn't as happy with the car in the second practice session, and hopes that the team will make some improvements overnight.

"Overall it wasn’t a bad day," he said. "Obviously, this morning was pretty strong but the evening session was not as good; we made some changes that didn’t work as well as we hoped. 

"I don’t just want to go back to the practice one car as I think we can still make it better. We can find a happy medium on the balance and the overall feeling is not too bad. I don’t think the position this evening is too important. 

"I got traffic on the first lap, so I had to go for the second lap, and for sure I lost a bit of lap time there. Mercedes will still turn it up in qualifying but we will be closer than where we were tonight. I’m confident that we will have a good car and tomorrow I’m sure we can be better than sixth and hopefully even better again in the race."