Red Bull eye strategy shift in Shanghai

Daniel Ricciardo hinted Red Bull could attempt an offset strategy at the Chinese Grand Prix due to a struggle to get the best out of ultrasoft tyres. With Pirelli missing out the supersoft compound in Shanghai, the hope of another strategical battle appears to be on the cards.

Sebastian Vettel's ability to eke 39 laps out of soft tyres was crucial to his victory in Bahrain, with Mercedes seeing one-stop strategies for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas fall short.

Ricciardo was a second off the pace in Friday's FP2 session, wile also suffering discomfort under brakes.

If Red Bull are able to set a competitive time on soft tyres in the second qualifying session on Saturday, Ricciardo says they could look to take the fight to Mercedes and Ferrari from a different angle.

"I think on pure performance runs with the ultrasoft we weren't very good," Ricciardo said.

Taking off like a Chinese fire cracker ???????? #ChineseGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/feiQ3EbRU7 — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 13, 2018

"We used it two times today and both times I wasn't happy with it. I felt like after the first sector already I had killed the tyre and the lap time didn't really improve after the first three or four corners.

"We went maybe two tenths quicker from the soft to that, and it's two compounds softer. We need to understand what we can do better and get that tyre working better over one lap.

"It's no secret that a few people are thinking of qualifying on the soft.

"It's not that bad a tyre around here. The ultrasoft doesn't seem to last that long, so you might see a few yellow tyres in Q2."

Max Verstappen's quickest lap was within three tenths of Hamilton's leading time - a gap Red Bull claimed they could turn into race victories in pre-season.

After delivering long-run pace similar to the Silver Arrows, Ricciardo remains confident for Sunday success.

"The long runs were much better and I'm confident we can find the speed," he said.

"Overall, we aren't looking too bad and I hope we can be in the fight with Ferrari and Mercedes."