Friday: Red Bull stuck in the midfield, Vettel still unlucky

Sebastian Vettel (no.1) – 11th and no time

The bad luck of the four-time World Champion unfortunately returned with him from vacation as he experienced an engine problem, the extent of which he still does not know: « Hopefully, the engine I had trouble with today is not damaged, we need to check it properly. If it is, then we will obviously have to put another one in, not necessarily this weekend, but other weekends in the future, so we have to wait and see. Clearly, I didn’t drive much today except for a few laps this morning. There are many things to check, and it’s particularly important here since every year it’s different. The circuit is long, there are many high-speed corners, and therefore it’s important to have rhythm, whereas on slower tracks, it may be a bit easier. »

Daniel Ricciardo (No. 3) – 9th and 8th

The sprightly wallaby did not expect miracles on a power circuit: « I think we knew it would be difficult to break away from the middle of the pack here – we see that Force India, McLaren, and Toro Rosso

as well as a few others are strong. With a bit of luck, tomorrow we will be able to find a little more speed to get ahead of them.

He sees, however, encouraging signs: « Our race pace is better than our speed on one lap, so that’s not bad. If you have a good car for the race, Sundays are always more fun. If the track continues to rubber in, and we’ll see what the weather does tomorrow, then it should play more in our favor. Eau Rouge is still flat out but you have to be a bit more focused, it’s no longer a Sunday drive now. »