Daniel Ricciardo clocked the fourth best time for Red Bull in opening practice for Sunday’s British Grand Prix and then claimed his champion team are bouncing back to their best form.

The young Australian, who has replaced compatriot Mark Webber in the team, said he felt Red Bull’s struggles in Austria two weeks ago were just a one-off bad weekend.

The team struggled at their home race at the Red Bull Ring where Ricciardo finished eighth and German defending four-time champion Sebastian Vettel retired with electrical problems.

At Silverstone on Friday, they were fourth and fifth fastest respectively, if a full second down on the pace set by the leading Mercedes of Briton Lewis Hamilton.

Ricciardo said: “Today the car definitely behaved better in medium and high speed corners. We were back to our stronger point there and I think Austria for now is a one-off.

“Through the high speed corners, it feels really good, actually.”

Vettel, who was a tenth of a second behind Ricciardo, said Red Bull still need more pace.

“I think we need to improve still. It was quite windy today, which didn’t make life easy out there, so it was decent… Mercedes is ahead but behind that (it) is really close,” he said.