Had Ricciardo and Verstappen been penalised, they would have had to start the race from 11th and 12th based on the results of Practice Three, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel promoted to third.
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But he pitted fairly early for fresh tyres and while unable to get within striking distance of the Mercedes duo again, faced a challenge from Vettel’s Ferrari, running on fresher rubber, for third place.
Losing grip on the dirty side of the track he was quickly rounded up by Hamilton then Rosberg, as his Red Bull teammate and rising nemisis Max Verstappen shadowed him in fourth.
“The auto can be very strong here, I think”, said Verstappen. “I got a good start”.
“Generally we’re in a pretty good position for a Friday”.
Ferrari’s push, not only to fend off the Red Bull challenge but also to close the gap on Mercedes and a potential win in 2016, will quickly be threatened by the need to focus on next season, with general paddock consensus suggesting that, once the summer break and Belgian Grand Prix are in the rear view mirror, most teams will switch resources to their 2017 cars. Here as well the vehicle can be very strong and I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. “We are under no illusion that Mercedes are going to continue to be strong and Red Bull are going to continue to be strong”.
Ricciardo was pleased to have beaten his team-mate, Dutch teenager Max Verstappen.
The 18-year-old agreed with Ricciardo that “Ferrari is not too far away”.
However, in the case of the Red Bull and Force India drivers along with Bottas, stewards decided that another article of the Sporting Regulations relating to qualifying took precedence as all five drivers made at least the second stage of qualifying.
“I’m feeling great out there and the vehicle is very quick, so a good start to the weekend overall”.
“It’s very close. Up till now it was a good battle with Lewis”.
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“I think the new asphalt suits us, so I’m optimistic”.
