Daniel Ricciardo says he feels ready to race at the Formula One season-opener in Melbourne, despite an interrupted final day of testing in Barcelona.
The Australian spent most of Sunday in the Red Bull garage after an issue with his Energy Recovery System (ERS) left him stranded at the end of pitlane an hour into the session.
He still managed to complete 72 laps of Circuit de Catalunya and was fifth fastest.
"We had ERS problems in the morning but in the end we more or less did what we needed to do today," Ricciardo said.
"We did a bit on lower fuel and soft tyres, plus some longer runs."
The 25-year-old said it was hard to say where Red Bull sat in the pecking order ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 14, but suggested Mercedes were still the ones to beat.
"Aside from one team, I'd say it's pretty close after that, but we'll see in Melbourne," he said.
"I think there's more to come from us. Personally, I feel really ready to race now and I think we'll be good come Melbourne."
The team still has a couple of filming days up their sleeve, which Ricciardo believes will be of benefit.
"Every bit of mileage we can do helps," he said.
"They're definitely more for the guys behind the laptops to try and find a bit more out of it."
Despite reliability issues, Red Bull's head of race engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, rated the winter testing programme an overall success.
"If only for the reason that we did about three times the mileage as this time last year," Rocquelin said.
"The balance of the car is good, the consistency is there, we've built in good reliability and the drivers are happy and I'm pleased with how things have gone.
"There's more to come in the next while but I think we're in decent shape for the first race."
Share
