Ricciardo: German GP fightback could be fun

Despite the setback of a grid penalty already looming over him, Daniel Ricciardo says he is ready for the challenge of fighting his way back through the field on Sunday. The Australian will start from the back of the grid but has an afternoon in front of him he says could be "fun".

Despite topping FP1, Red Bull used the second practice session to focus on his race pace and set-up, something that he said would be vital to get right if he was to progress through the field on race day.

“The priority today was to try and get a good race set up because we are going to be coming through a few guys on Sunday so we prioritised that,” he said.

“It’s more frustrating when (a grid penalty) happens a day before or something, so I could prepare myself and I’m actually pretty excited to come through the back and have a bit of fun. 

“I was aware I was probably going to take the penalty here, so now I just look at it as a fun Sunday coming through the field. That is the plan. I’ll try and get as far up as I can and if you get a podium from the back it’s like a win. So that is my target.

“The race run now looked pretty decent, the car seems pretty strong, so see how we’ll go tomorrow. Don’t know how much we’ll run but we’ll just try and base ourselves on the race sims."

Red Bull opted to serve their inevitable grid penalty at Hockenheim with the Hungarian Grand Prix on the horizon, a circuit more suited to Red Bull's aerodynamically strong RB14.