Ricciardo confident Red Bull will be ready for Australia

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has reiterated that they will be competitive, once the season begins in Australia next month.

Red Bull have kept their cards close to their chest so far this winter, due in part to their reliability problems in Jerez two weeks ago.

However, the car looks ominously good in the second pre-season test so far, as it’s reliability has improved and it looks quick round the track.

Ricciardo set a 1:24.574s this morning in Barcelona, which is almost a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton’s pole time in the 2014 race last year.

Ricciardo is confident that engine suppliers Renault have overcome the problems which hampered their running in Jerez, and he expects them to be at 100% in Melbourne.

Yesterday, he told reporters: “We’re riding on that a lot on days where we don’t complete as many laps as we’d like. We just look back 12 months and are like ‘yeah, we’ll be alright, we’ll get there’.

“That’s obviously a really good thing to have in our pocket and a thing in the head to stay motivated. But I think we’re looking pretty good right now. Obviously there are teams who are looking probably better at this stage, but I think once we get to Melbourne we’ll be good.”

Ricciardo is joined at Red Bull by Russian Daniil Kvyat this season.

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