Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull did everything it could on a troublesome Friday practice at Monza as it prepares to serve grid penalties ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo will drop 25 places - effectively to the back of the grid now penalties no longer carry over to the race - while team-mate Daniil Kvyat has 15 places to serve after qualifying on Saturday. Red Bull was off the pace in FP1 and FP2 but focused on longer runs in both, something Ricciardo admits was logical given the team's imminent penalties.
"Today we did the most that we could," Ricciardo said. "We were focusing on race set-up knowing that we start from the back, so Sunday is going to be a lot more important for us. Mercedes we can't fight, we can't challenge. Maybe some rain will come but Sunday looks dry. We will just do what we can this week and see what happens in Singapore where we should be a lot stronger."
Monza is known as the Temple of Speed due to its long straights and high speed corners, and Ricciardo says this made the engine changes logical with Renault's power unit still off the pace.
"We lose quite a bit of time on the straights, so you are on the straight just driving and you can't push the pedal any harder. We know that we are going to lose some time there. It is for sure the best place to take our penalties. This morning was okay and then this afternoon we did not do as much running and were outside the top 10 where we thought we'd probably be. We will see what we can do in the race. On Saturday won't be too busy for us."
Ricciardo had to crawl back to the pits during FP1, something Christian Horner confirmed was later because of a hydraulic issue with his DRS system. The issue was not terminal and Ricciardo soon emerged from the pits. A gearbox issue also hampered Daniil Kvyat's Friday.