FP1 & FP2 Bahrain GP report: Red Bull Renault

SEBASTIAN VETTEL

“It was a solid day for us and we didn’t have any problems with the car. We’re still learning a lot in terms of reliability and car set up, so it’s important to do laps and not to have any problems.”

"Mercedes are very quick. It’s not a surprise as they looked very quick in the testing here. I think also other teams look very strong again, McLaren and Williams at first glance. But today was just about ourselves, just like the last few weeks to be honest. We are trying to learn and understand more about the car and there’s still a lot of progress to be made. I think we learned at the testing that Mercedes is very strong around this track and they have proven today they are quite quick. It will be a long way for us to catch up but in the long term it’s important for us to make bigger steps than them. Today was a good, solid day for us."

DANIEL RICCIARDO

“We had a better run in P2 today than in P1. In P1 we played around a little bit with a few things on the car, but this evening was better and we made a step forward. We’ve still got more to go through – so overall not a bad day, but still room for improvement.”

"It’s much easier in the night, I guess, physically. You’re not really breaking sweat now in the evening, it is a lot cooler and the track actually seemed a lot faster, so it’s a win-win really. I think the track’s really well lit and they’ve done a good job. I think Sunday night will be a good one."