RB F1 Team driver Daniel Ricciardo downplayed his performance during the first day of pre-season testing and asked for caution when analyzing the results.
Ricciardo was the fourth fastest at the end of the first day of testing with a time of 1:32.599s, just 1.255 seconds behind leader Max Verstappen.
The Australian driver said that testing was “so far so good,” but said that they “need to be a little bit cautious.”
“As the season goes on, the target is the front of the midfield. I would say now, where we are, it’s probably more in the midfield. I’m not sure we’re yet at the front but that is certainly our target,” he told the media.
“I know some people are quite excited about us coming into the season, but I want to play it a little bit cautious.
“We have a decent car, but we still have a lot of work to do, and the numbers we brought for the test… we believe there are still some things to find.”
Ricciardo said that while the “outside” of the car “it’s very different,” the “inside is an evolution of Abu Dhabi.”
“We brought an update for that race, and it’s just a continuation of that now. There’s a new chassis and everything but the philosophy is still a continuation from there.”
“The car felt, in a positive way, quite comfortable because it was similar to last year, but looking at the big car, the Red Bull, there’s still some lap time to find, obviously.”