SEPANG, Malaysia -- Daniel Ricciardo believes a potentially 'conservative' mindset from polesitter Lewis Hamilton could open the door for Red Bull to fight for victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Red Bull locked out the second row of the grid on Saturday, with Max Verstappen edging Ricciardo by 0.054s to start third, but the Australian is confident they can both fight with Hamilton if the championship leader is looking to stay out of trouble. Hamiton's nearest title rival Sebastian Vettel endured a horror afternoon and will start last after suffering a turbo failure on his Ferrari.
"I don't think we need to lead into Turn 1 to have a chance to win," said Ricciardo. "Mercedes have not shown enough to really show that they are going to dominate in the dry, so that will definitely open up some opportunities."
"[Hamilton] can afford to lose. He can afford to come third, fourth. If he finishes in front of Seb, it's a win. I don't think [Mercedes] is going to run to the top [of the engine] for the whole race.
"I think they will have to be conservative for their sake, especially if they're in a podium position and Seb's still seventh or whatever. So it could bring the whole race towards us."
"I am sure Kimi is going to get some heat to make Lewis' life hell at the start, so we will see how that plays out."
Despite his confidence, for Red Bull to have a realistic chance of scoring a second victory of 2017, it is likely rain would have to fall on the Sepang International Circuit.
Both Ricciardo and Verstappen displayed tremendous pace in Friday's wet conditions, finishing 0.6s ahead of the field.
"We won't be disappointed if it rains," he said. "We can definitely be quick in the wet. Our cornering speed is pretty good, looking at the overlay, we lose most of it on the straights.
"The way our car works around here we have had to put quite a bit of downforce on, another reason why we would be competitive in the wet."