Daniel Ricciardo reckons Red Bull tweaks will close gap to Williams
Daniel Ricciardo is hoping an update package Red Bull is bringing to next weekend's British Grand Prix will help the team close on Formula 1 rivals Williams

The Red Bull-Renault alliance has had a troubled F1 season so far with a string of power unit failures forcing Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat to take grid penalties for last Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo rescued a point with 10th but Kvyat finished adrift in 12th as Red Bull saw the gap to third-placed Williams grow to 74 points.
But following a relatively trouble-free day of testing in Austria, halted only briefly because of a brake pedal problem, Ricciardo is expecting a stronger performance at Silverstone.
"I'm hoping for a better weekend than here," he said.
"I think naturally the circuit will suit our car, let's say the characteristics of what we have. "We will have some updates, some aerodynamic pieces, which should be good so I'm excited for this.
"I think we'll back more or less in that top-seven group, probably just behind the Williams.
"I don't think Mercedes or Ferrari yet, but hopefully we can be close to Williams."
Ricciardo said Red Bull learned a lot from the final day of testing, when he completed more than 100 laps, and says it understands why his brake pedal stuck towards the end of the session.
"We had a small failure inside the car, the brake pedal got stuck on and then the brakes overheated and then caught on fire," Ricciardo explained.
"We know why it happened, which is important, and we did lots of laps so it was a good day.
"We made some bigger changes today to explore the limits of the car and try and extract more potential from it."

Rosberg says test for Mercedes will also help title rival Hamilton
Marco Wittmann says F1 test debut for Toro Rosso was worth the pain

Latest news
Busch calls out "disrespect from everybody" in "disaster" NASCAR Clash
Kyle Busch has called out "disrespect from everybody" in Sunday's "disaster" NASCAR Cup Series pre-season Clash at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.
Why the time was right for Ford's F1 return with Red Bull
Some 22 years after pulling the plug out of Jaguar and handing the keys to a certain Dietrich Mateschitz, the paths of Ford and Red Bull have crossed again. And their 2026 Formula 1 alliance makes sense for both parties.
Vandoorne joins Peugeot WEC team as reserve driver
Reigning Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne will serve as Peugeot’s official reserve driver in its first full season in the World Endurance Championship in 2023.
Red Bull duo say Ricciardo F1 sim input will be a boost
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez reckon Red Bull will gain significantly from Daniel Ricciardo working in its simulator on Formula 1 weekends as part of his new third driver role.
The pioneering F1 car that preceded Lotus’s terminal decline
In the hands of Ayrton Senna the actively suspended 99T would be the last F1 race-winning Lotus but, as STUART CODLING reveals, it was a complicated machine that caused more problems than it solved
How Tyrrell became a racing Rubik’s cube as it faded out of F1
Formula 1’s transformation into a global sport meant the gradual extinction for a small team determined to stay true to its low-budget roots. But Tyrrell would eventually be reborn as a world-beating outfit again, explains MAURICE HAMILTON, albeit in different colours…
Assessing Hamilton's remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver
Many doubted Lewis Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes for the 2013 Formula 1 season. But the journey he’s been on since has taken the Briton to new heights - and to a further six world championship titles
Why new look Haas is a litmus test for Formula 1’s new era
OPINION: With teams outside the top three having struggled in Formula 1 in recent seasons, the rules changes introduced in 2022 should have more of an impact this season. How well Haas does, as the poster child for the kind of team that F1 wanted to be able to challenge at the front, is crucial
The Mercedes F1 pressure changes under 10 years of Toto Wolff
OPINION: Although the central building blocks for Mercedes’ recent, long-lasting Formula 1 success were installed before he joined the team, Toto Wolff has been instrumental in ensuring it maximised its finally-realised potential after years of underachievement. The 10-year anniversary of Wolff joining Mercedes marks the perfect time to assess his work
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
How do the best races of F1 2022 stack up to 2021?
OPINION: A system to score all the grands prix from the past two seasons produces some interesting results and sets a standard that 2023 should surely exceed
Who were the fastest drivers in F1 2022?
Who was the fastest driver in 2022? Everyone has an opinion, but what does the stopwatch say? Obviously, differing car performance has an effect on ultimate laptime – but it’s the relative speed of each car/driver package that’s fascinating and enlightening says ALEX KALINAUCKAS
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.