Daniel Ricciardo says he was expecting Ferrari to be quicker during Friday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but anticipates the Italian outfit will be stronger in qualifying.
Sebastian Vettel claimed victory for Ferrari at last year's race at Sepang and is positive the team can still take at least one race win before the end of the season. While Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished ahead of both Red Bull drivers in each session on Friday, the long run pace of Red Bull -- particularly Verstappen's -- left Ricciardo pleasantly surprised, although he predicts Ferrari will be quicker over one lap on Saturday.
"Mercedes we don't have to explain, we know that they will be quick," Ricciardo said. "I thought Ferrari would be a bit quicker here. With all going well we can get closer to that, we can get within a couple of tenths. So we will see tomorrow.
"I think we did expect Ferrari to be quite quick here, obviously last year they had some good success and we're probably, well at least me, a bit off the pace where I want to be. I think we can get closer, I think they'll still have their nose in front come qualifying, but in the race as we know anything can happen."
After being quicker than Verstappen in opening practice, Ricciardo appeared to struggle for one-lap pace in the second session, ending up eighth and three tenths down on his teammate. The Australian admits he has time to find but remains confident that Red Bull can challenge on Sunday.
"Definitely like to be a bit quicker, but it's just Friday, so there's time to improve and learn and see what we can do. I think tonight, a bit like Singapore I wasn't quite happy on Friday but we turned it around on Saturday and the rest of the weekend so I'm confident we can do all these things.
"It just requires attention to detail for now. I don't know what the weather forecast is, but if there's a bit of rain we probably wouldn't turn that down for now. Definitely want to find a bit more in the dry conditions."