Australian Daniel Ricciardo emerged from a gloomy day as one of Formula One’s potential stars after a sparkling run ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old from Perth pushed his Toro Rosso to seventh on the standings after the opening practice session at Albert Park – then said there was more speed to come.
While Jenson Button topped the timecharts, marginally ahead of his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, Ricciardo finished just four tenths of a second behind fifth placed Mark Webber in the Red Bull.
Rain ruined the second sessions with teams forgetting about setting times and opting for longer runs and concentrating on getting to grips with different tyre compounds.
Ricciardo was optimistic after putting his car through its paces during a 90-minute session on a damp but drying track.
“As for race pace I think there is some time to be gained,” Ricciardo said.
“The good thing is I think I know where that can be gained.
“Probably on paper it doesn’t look as good as it could be but I think we’ve got that one sorted.”
He said that parts trialed during pre-season testing in Spain which the team had been unsure of had proved productive.
“This morning I thought we found some positives which we tried in testing and we still had a bit of a question mark but it seems they’re working here,” Ricciardo said.
“I won’t speak too soon but tomorrow I think all going well we’ll be far up the grid.”
He described the second wet session as a frustrating waiting game.
“This morning was very good and this afternoon was a bit mixed with the weather but at least we got to try various (tyre) compounds,” he said.
“It was a bit of cat and mouse. You go out on one tyre then it dries and you wait a bit.
“You see guys going quicker but they’ve got the (right) tyre on and we just had to be patient.”
Ricciardo said that while he easily outpaced his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, the team was treating the pair equally.
“Maybe a few of them expect me to have a bit more feedback because I’ve had more experience with the tyres which is fair enough but they’re not all staring at me at the meetings expecting me to say something special.
“We’re just trying to work at the moment altogether,” Ricciardo said.