Spotlight on Max Verstappen

Ricciardo agrees that Bahrain will also be a tough weekend for Red Bull.

Max Verstappen says he benefited from "perfect" mixed conditions at the Chinese Grand Prix on his way to taking a remarkable podium finish from 16th on the grid.

The Australian was struggling for front grip in the first part of the race, which is when he was caught and passed by both teammate Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

It comes after a string of performance and reliability issues surfaced for Red Bull during pre-season testing.

Shocker: Nico Hulkenberg's prospects looked good ahead of the grand prix, starting from seventh with a damp start. From there on I think we made the right call with the change of tyres to slicks.

"There's a few things which we've probably gone back a little bit to a similar thing to previous year with a few things on the set-up so it should be something that I'm probably more used to, for both of us".

"I had a really good race and I am very happy to be on the podium", said a typically under-stated Verstappen. "I was a bit cautious not to go too early and it paid off".

"Whether it's geometry and that of suspension, that's probably beyond me, but as a driver I feel that the rear could be stronger".

"I quite like him up here next to us", he said. I was trying to hang on, obviously, but I don't think I was a fight I was ever going to come out winning.

"He didn't let the vehicle run out to the edge so, wow, he has got some downforce".

It allowed him to retain his lead before marching to his first win of the campaign, the 54th of his career, and his fifth from the last six grands prix stretching back to last season.

Daniel Ricciardo claims that watching on-board footage has revealed where Red Bull is losing out to Mercedes and Ferrari.

"We're missing much more than that", said the Australian. We're definitely working hard to get new parts to the auto as soon as we can, to try to get the pace up a bit, and be closer to the top two teams. "I think it was a ideal race for me because after when you go on the slick tyres I have passed most of the field already and you are basically back in position where you should be".

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"We are still finding out everything, it's not an easy fix as you know".

Verstappen added: "We have no balance between slow and fast corners, we need more grip, and we lack power".

"Then it should already be a big step forward, then we need more horsepower as well". Of course, Vettel was Ricciardo's teammate at Red Bull before he left to drive for Ferrari.

Team adviser Helmut Marko told Austria's Salzburger Nachrichten this week: "A big [power unit] update from Renault is only planned for Canada but we will have a version that is slightly lighter and can be driven in a higher mode for a longer time". The drag reduction system that's supposed to aid in overtaking has been hot garbage in really helping drivers pass today-getting them closer as opposed to getting them fully around-but that's also forced drivers to take ballsier moves to try and get ahead. "It was a great, entertaining race", he said.

"Last year they were 1.8 seconds off [pole] and we still managed to finish second in the championship". For sure, we want to be closer, but we're not worse than we have been.