Daniel Ricciardo thinks Red Bull should aim to be best of the rest behind Mercedes in qualifying despite suffering a late engine failure in Friday practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo finished third in FP2, behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat as the Red Bulls split the Mercedes drivers. He suffered a late engine failure in that session but later confirmed it was on an old engine, meaning he will not incur a grid penalty for taking on new components this weekend.
Asked what he expects on Saturday, Ricciardo replied: "I hope we stay where we are. I expect [Nico] Rosberg to get back in front of us but if we can be the second best team that will be a good day."
Red Bull's long run pace compared to Mercedes was encouraging, with the team excelling in the technical corners of sector two especially. Ricciardo, who claimed victory in Hungary last year, is in good spirits about the session went.
"We had a few updates, and this circuit is a circuit that suits our car more than most of the others we've been to this year. We are still quite close to the Mercedes, but we will see how they go tomorrow. Maybe they had a bit more fuel today. But relatively speaking we look good.
"Danii and I were both really happy with the car. The long run looked really good before we had the failure, so a good day."
Ricciardo was six tenths faster than the quickest Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, while Williams could only finish ninth and tenth - though it rarely reveals its true pace on Fridays. Ricciardo expects both to improve in time for qualifying.
"Looking at today you would say yes, but you don't know what they're doing and how much they've turned down. I'm sure we're not half a second in front of Ferrari but even if we're a tenth in front I'll take that."