Dominant Ricciardo expects gap to ‘tighten up’

Daniel Ricciardo is fully expecting Ferrari and Mercedes to become more of a threat to Red Bull as the weekend develops in Monaco.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Red Bull heading into race week and they started to justify it as Ricciardo topped both practice sessions on Thursday in Monte Carlo.

The Aussie became the first driver to drop into the 1:11 benchmark and smashed the track record, with 1:10s expected to come in qualifying on Saturday.

But whilst Red Bull are off to a great start, he does not necessarily see this weekend as a foregone conclusion.

“The intention this weekend was to try and win, and be dominant,” Ricciardo said.

“Today is good. It is a good start. We topped the sessions, so for now we have done all we can.

“But we have a day off, then Saturday, and I am sure Ferrari and Mercedes will start to put pressure on us.

“It is going to tighten up on Saturday. But all we can do today is try and top it and we did.

“Our long run looked decent. It is not everything around here, but we seem to good in all conditions at the moment.”

Ricciardo is looking for his first-ever victory in Monaco after three podium finishes in the previous four races around the iconic circuit.