---
title: "Horner: Ricciardo victory on home turf a ‘long shot’"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/03/24/horner-ricciardo-victory-home-turf-long-shot/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Kyran Gibbons"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2017-03-24T11:43:51Z"
modified: "2017-03-24T11:45:04Z"
---

# Horner: Ricciardo victory on home turf a ‘long shot’

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has tempered the expectations of Daniel Ricciardo fans ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, stating that a win for the Aussie is a ‘long shot’.

Red Bull endured a mixed Friday, with early promise in FP1 being overshadowed in the afternoon as the team experimented unsuccessfully with car balance. Ricciardo finished fifth on the FP2 timesheets, while team-mate Max Verstappen could only manage sixth.

Based on the emerging pecking order, Horner was pragmatic in the FIA Team Principal’s Press Conference.

“I think being realistic, from the performance we have seen today from Lewis \[Hamilton\], he’s the absolute favourite,” he said. “We thought that coming here and all today has done is underline that.

“But then it’s motor racing and anything can happen. We’ve seen spurious results in opening Grand Prix’s in previous years and obviously a home winner would be an unbelievable result, but if you look at the pecking order at the moment, that is a long shot.”

![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/657173324-1024x683.jpg)

Red Bull has somewhat followed the trend set in pre-season, with the Milton Keynes squad slotting in behind the top two of reigning champions Mercedes and challengers Ferrari.

Prior to a wheel being turned, the winter was a time of significant optimism among Red Bull fans, with armchair pundits suggesting that the increased emphasis of aerodynamics for 2017 would play into their team’s hands.

As a result, Australians have dared to dream that their very own superstar – four-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo – could become the first Aussie to take a grand prix victory on home soil. Increased ticket sales for this season’s event is evidence of this optimism.

Evidently, however, Red Bull have not given up hope. Their self-confessed setup errors in FP2 served to mask some latent speed within their RB13 package and Ricciardo himself has been keen to highlight that the team has more time to unlock.

“We made some changes that probably didn’t work out the way Max and myself wanted or expected,” the Aussie stated in an interview featured on [Autosport](https://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128618/ricciardo-red-bull-can-reel-in-mercedes).

“I don’t think they’re \[Mercedes\] insanely quick; sure, they are quicker than us at the moment, but I feel we can still reel some of that advantage in that they’ve got.”