Malaysian GP: Red Bull reverts to engine settings from F1 testing

According to the Australian, the team has decided to focus on making the Renault engine more driveable at Sepang, rather than looking for extra power.

"I think in Melbourne we came with a step to try and make an improvement from testing, and basically what we've done now is gone back to more what we had in testing," he said.

"Instead of trying to find a gain this weekend, we are going back to something that is at least driveable.

"Some things are definitely positive. From the first sign this morning, the bulk of the driveability issues we experienced in Melbourne are a lot better so it's now similar to what we had in testing in February.

"I think that was our biggest issue in Melbourne, summarising the weekend, and predominantly that's gone now, which is good.

"We got to do a few set-up things this morning, then had a few issues this afternoon. So that obviously limited any real running for us but there's definitely - even with not many laps to show - some positives with at least the engine side and the driveability side."

Ricciardo added that an engine-related problem was the cause of his issues in the second session at Sepang, but that Daniil Kvyat's fourth-place time showed that the team is on the right track.

"I was basically running on five cylinders," he said.

"We got it out there right at the very end for another install run. My first lap on primes, the only real time I posted, that was all running OK and after that we encountered issues.

"We need a few more laps still, but as Dani showed when the car is on it, it's not too bad."

Kvyat agreed that the basic feeling of the car was good.

"On the timesheet it looks good, but on Friday I prefer not to watch too deeply into the timesheet," he said.

"I like to see the result in the right time. But the feeling, which is the most important, feels more positive definitely."