Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished Friday’s Formula 1 practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix hoping for rain through the remainder of the weekend after mixed conditions through FP1 and FP2.
Heavy rain resulted in first practice being delayed by 30 minutes before the drivers were allowed out on-track, with Verstappen and Ricciardo sweeping to a one-two finish in the damp conditions.
A bone-dry FP2 saw Ferrari come to the fore, with Ricciardo and Verstappen settling for P3 and P4 respectively, leaving them eager for more rain after getting an idea of what could be possible in a wet race.
“We were both looking pretty good in the wetter conditions and on the intermediates we were at the pace and significantly quicker than everyone else, which we’ll take,” Ricciardo said.
“This afternoon we weren’t that competitive looking at Ferrari, but it looked like Mercedes struggled as well. If we can focus on ourselves we can still improve; on the short runs we needed to improve the front grip and on the long runs we needed to improve the rear, so we have just got to find a better compromise with the set-up. Just looking after that I think will be the key on Sunday.
“I think if we can find half a second somewhere then we’ll be in the fight, we have still got a bit of work to do but we were OK.
“If we get some light drizzle across the weekend then we’ll be looking pretty good; I won’t complain if qualifying and the race is wet!”
Verstappen echoed his teammate’s comments: “I think today was positive. Of course, compared to Ferrari it can be better but it’s not a bad performance and we still end the day ahead of Mercedes.
“For sure tomorrow it will be better but we still need to improve to beat Ferrari. I missed out on doing a long run this afternoon because of the red flag, so I will see with Daniel how he is feeling and then we will decide what we can do tomorrow to improve the car.
“Tomorrow I’m hoping for rain, not too much that we aren’t driving, but a little bit would make things interesting.”
