Max was better than me, admits Ricciardo

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that he will need to up his game in qualifying next season if he is to compete, and added that his young team-mate Max Verstappen outperformed him much of the time in the 2017 campaign.

The Australian finished behind Verstappen on the grid 13 times in qualifying despite the fact that the time difference between the two was minimal, an average of three tenths.

Ricciardo is well aware, however, of the margins and how they can impact your performance, and Ricciardo knows that he needs to assess why his own times were down on previous years and look to make changes.

He said: "I can't deny that Max was better more times than not in qualifying this year – and qualifying has always been a strength of mine.

"So yeah, I've definitely got to lift my game in qualifying. The first part of that is to understand what I didn't execute as well this year as last.

"If it's half a tenth, it's half a tenth: it could decide pole; could decide a championship. We've got to fight for everything.

"And that's good. This year I think Max and I both feel that any mistake in qualifying means we're going to be second best.

"In the past, with some team-mates, you might perhaps get away with a little mistake here and there and still come out on top. Not anymore. We keep the pressure on each other."

Ricciardo added that he was thoroughly impressed with what Red Bull achieved in the 2017 campaign, and sees no reason to believe that there won't be a repeat next year, with hard work over the winter months to come.

He stated: "I don't want to set the expectation bar too high, mostly because I hate that phrase, but yeah, the way we've progressed this year has been massive.

"We've developed more than anyone else. Because of that, it's hard to think we would not start next year on the right foot."