Daniel Ricciardo excited to be at the ‘pointy end’ in Singapore practice as Yuki Tsunoda urges RB to ‘stay sharp’ for qualifying

RB were one of the standout performers during Friday practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, with drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda featuring firmly inside the top 10 positions in both sessions.

After the Japanese racer placed fifth and the Australian seventh in FP1, the pair improved to P4 and P6 during the night-time FP2 hour, sandwiching the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and placing just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

FP2: Norris edges out Leclerc as Russell crashes during second practice in Singapore

“It was a really good day for both of us,” said Ricciardo afterwards, as he also admitted that getting back behind the wheel felt like “the best remedy” amid more talk about his future in the sport.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 20: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Visa Cash App RB — Ricciardo placed sixth in second practice, just behind fellow Australian and Azerbaijan winner Piastri

“I think we’re pretty happy with the car, [there’s] always some fine-tuning but it was nice to just see ourselves up the pointy end. It looks like so far at least we’ve got a decent package here, so that’s nice.”

Asked where the pace had come from, the 35-year-old initially laughed before pondering: “The last time we had high downforce was… Okay, maybe Zandvoort. I was thinking more Budapest, maybe this package was Budapest, ish, and we were competitive there.

“Maybe it’s a little bit more suited to our car at the moment, running the bigger wings and this style of circuit. We actually thought we would be good in Baku last week, and we weren’t, [with the] much lower downforce. Maybe it’s that the high downforce set-up is a little kinder to us.”

Tsunoda shared similarly positive remarks to Ricciardo but also stressed the need for RB to be on their A game approaching the all-important qualifying session, when he expects some rival teams to step up the pace.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 20: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Visa Cash App RB VCARB — Tsunoda ended the day fourth, behind only Lando Norris’s McLaren and the two Ferraris

“It was a good, positive day,” said Tsunoda. “It was very cool throughout the day. Obviously it’s just free practice sessions, I’m sure a lot of competitors will pick up the pace from tomorrow onwards, so we have to stay sharp, but it’s definitely positive for the first day.”

He continued: “I’m definitely looking forward to qualifying more than usual, for sure, but Williams, I’m sure they are hiding a bit of performance – I’m sure they will be faster in qualifying.

“We still have to stay sharp, but I’m sure also we have a bit more improvement from our car, more to come, so we just have to put it all together tomorrow.”

RB head into this weekend’s event holding sixth in the constructors’ championship on 34 points, followed closely by Haas on 29 and Williams and Alpine on 16 and 13 respectively.