Daniel Ricciardo fears he and Sebastian Vettel could qualify down the grid if they fail to 'nail' a perfect performance in Saturday's qualifying for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Australian said that anything less than a completely maximum effort could be costly for the two Red Bull drivers - despite defending champion Sebastian Vettel having clocked third fastest time in Friday's second free practice.
"I think, if we can get it right, we can definitely challenge them, but it is really close and if we don't get it right we can be a long way back as we have seen. We have to make sure we nail it.
"It seems pretty close to be honest. There are a few teams who can challenge if not for the front row then for the second row. It seems to be a bit more even this week.
"We have to try to make sure that we are extracting everything out of it to get in front. Today we didn't, but we are working on that."
Ricciardo was 12th on an opening day dominated by the pace-setting Mercedes team with Briton Lewis Hamilton topping the times ahead of his teammate championship leader German Nico Rosberg.
The Australian was disappointed: "I guess it was a bit of a surprise... We obviously hoped to be a bit further up there. I don't feel at home with the car, but at the same time we don't feel 1.5 seconds off (the pace).
"We have a bit to understand. What is positive is that Seb put in a quick one, so we can see what he did there and try to see where we are in comparison, see where I need to work - and see if we can get further up."
Vettel said: "There is still a lot of improvement we can do. Obviously Mercedes are very, very quick around here... It is hard, there is a lot of straight lines and we know we are not especially quick down the straights.
"But there is no point repeating that all the time. It is what it is. We have to make sure that we set up the car properly for the corners so we catch up as much time as possible."
A beaming Hamilton put his sulky behaviour in Monaco firmly behind him with a best lap of one minute and 16.118 seconds, almost two-tenths of a second faster than Rosberg.
"A great day for me and for the team - and Nico," Hamilton said.
"Now we know what we have to work on with the set up, but I must say what a great job the team have done for this back at the factory."
Rosberg was also full of praise for the team and their day's work.
"It was a pleasure to drive the car and now we have to work the right way and make sure we have the right strategy for the tyre degradation."
Finn Kimi Raikkonen was fourth ahead of his Ferrari team-mate two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who had been the fastest man in the morning's overcast opening free practice session.
Brazilian Felipe Massa was sixth ahead of his Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the top ten was completed by the two McLarens of Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen and his team-mate Jenson Button with Jean-Eric Vergne clocking the 10th best time for Toro Rosso.
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