Singapore GP: Red Bull backs its race pace against Ferrari

The Australian qualified second, splitting the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, with team-mate Danill Kvyat fourth.

Analysis of the higher-fuel race runs on Friday suggests Red Bull leads the way, fractionally ahead of Ferrari with Mercedes a couple of tenths further back.

FP2 LONG RUNS (Average of 5-lap runs on the super-soft tyre)
1. Red Bull 1m51.101s (Ricciardo)
2. Ferrari 1m51.118s (Vettel)
3. Mercedes 1m51.366s (Hamilton)
4. Force India 1m52.087s (Hulkenberg)
5. Toro Rosso 1m52.570s (Sainz)
6. Williams 1m52.745s (Massa)
7. Sauber 1m52.915s (Nasr)
8. McLaren 1m53.366s (Alonso)
9. Lotus 1m53.541s (Grosjean)

As a result, Ricciardo is bullish about his chances of scoring a fourth career victory and first since last year's Belgian Grand Prix.

"Judging yesterday I think we were as good as Ferrari," Ricciardo told AUTOSPORT with regards Red Bull's race pace.

"For me we were pretty much the quickest - very similar. Seb was pretty similar to me.

"If that's how it is tomorrow it's going to be a pretty fun race at the front so it could be a bit of cat and mouse with strategy.

"Ideally we get a good start and control it.

"If we stay second on the start I think we can still be confident that there's a way to find a win."

Ricciardo believes the progress Red Bull has made with the chassis since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July has given him renewed confidence behind the wheel.

"It's definitely our best chance [to win this season]," added Ricciardo.

"Coming into the weekend, we thought it was the best chance to get on the podium.

"Today's result backs up the confidence I and the team had coming here.

"Seb was out of reach, he did two really good laps, so we're second best today, but we will try and get one more up there tomorrow.

"You need a lot of confidence in the car here to do well. It has felt good out of the box here so I feel really pleased."