Ricciardo a long shot to win home GP: boss

Daniel Ricciardo’s boss is already dashing a Formula One fairytale, saying the Australian driver has scant chance of winning his home grand prix.

Ricciardo lagged behind pacesetter Lewis Hamilton in opening practice sessions at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Friday.

And Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner isn’t holding hope of the local gaining much ground in Sunday’s season-opening race.

“Being realistic, on the performance we have seen today from Lewis, he’s the absolute favourite,” Horner told reporters.

“He was the favourite coming here. And all today has done is underline that.

“But then it’s motor racing and anything can happen.

“Obviously to have a home winner would be an unbelievable result but I think if you look at the pecking order at the moment, that is a long shot.”

In ominous signs for rivals trying to catch Hamilton in his Mercedes, the triple world champion was fastest in both practice sessions around the Albert Park circuit.

Ricciardo was third-fastest in the initial session, some 0.666 seconds behind Hamilton, before slipping 1.030 seconds adrift of the Englishman in the second session.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was second-fastest initially and third-quickest in the latter session, when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was closest to Hamilton – yet still more than half a second shy.

Ricciardo believed the early results evidenced the pure racing ability of Hamilton, rather than Mercedes.

“Mercedes sure is quick but it’s more Lewis than Valtteri,” he said.

And unlike his boss, Ricciardo wasn’t disheartened by the gap to Hamilton.

“This morning was promising and we tried a few things this afternoon, it’s fair to say they didn’t work as much as we would have liked,” Ricciardo said.

“We’ll go back and understand what we can do better for tomorrow.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was rapt with Hamilton’s performances but cautioned against thinking he was a sure thing.

“He had a very good day overall,” Wolff told reporters.

“It was one of the better Fridays. Having had some question marks over testing, it was encouraging to bounce back in that way.

“But that is a day that doesn’t really matter.”

Drivers return to the track on Saturday for another practice session from 1400 AEDT before the qualifying session from 1700 AEDT.

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