Cool temps in Canada play role in Red Bull pace

The Canadian Grand Prix has been a cool weekend and today’s forecast is overcast with a chance of showers. Whether it will rain or not is unknown but the cool temperatures, Red Bull feels that may be part of their performance advantage in Canada:

“Cooler temperatures will help us,” said Ricciardo.

“On Friday, we struggled a bit with the hotter track temperature. Sure, if it was hot again we would make some changes to make ourselves better but I think we are a bit more competitive in the cooler conditions.

“We will be close, hopefully, and we can be there with Mercedes and Ferrari.

“Mercedes generally have a qualifying mode, so let’s say if they have to turn their engines down a little bit [for the race] it could put us a lot closer.

“I would love a fight between all three teams, that would be awesome.

“As always, they [Mercedes] will be the ones to beat but we can be pretty close to them.”

Red Bull has a reputation of being one of the best chassis’ on the grid but with their Renault power unit down on power, it isn’t usually the high-speed circuits that favor the team’s outright competitiveness. However, the cooler temps may play a role in allowing them to be competitive here.

With the grid set, it does seem that if Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel or even Ricciardo could get a great start, they may have the pace to hold the others behind them and take control of the race. If Red Bull is right and the cool temps could help, a good start is what Ricciardo and Max Verstappen might need.

Hat Tip: AUTOSPORT