Red Bull remain hopeful they will be a match for Mercedes and Ferrari at the start of F1 2018 despite a difficult Australian GP.

While Daniel Ricciardo was stuck on the back foot all weekend after being on the receiving end of a controversial grid penalty, Max Verstappen was better placed before spinning after being passed off the line by Haas' Kevin Magnussen.

But Ricciardo recovered to finish fourth and set the fastest lap of the season-opener, and he felt this proved Red Bull arguably had the quickest car of the three leading teams despite Sebastian Vettel's victory.

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"I think we're really close to Ferrari's pace," the Australian told Sky F1 after his joint-best result at his home race. "We were definitely one of, if not the quickest car on track today.

"Hopefully that's representative moving forward, I think we've still got to find pace on one lap but the race pace is good."

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Ricciardo showed great speed following the Safety Car and managed to push Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen close for what would have been a maiden podium in Melbourne, but just couldn't execute a final pass.

"I obviously tried to do all I could with Kimi," he said. "It's a tight track, it is tricky to overtake but we set the fastest lap and that's really good signs for things to come in the next few weeks."

Red Bull's race-one speed is a far-cry from their start to the season last year, when they were around a second-a-lap off Mercedes and Ferrari at Albert Park.

And even Verstappen, who was frustrated at finishing sixth behind Fernando Alonso's McLaren, could take solace from the improvements.

"As soon as we were in clean air the pace was good," he said.

"We don't need to worry, we just need to focus on getting a clean qualifying and then in the race everything should sort itself out."

Verstappen explained that he was compromised by damage to his car in the opening laps, which affected his RB14's balance and was the reason for his spin.

"Suddenly I had a lot of issues with the car, balance problems, and we found out after four or five laps something broke off the car," he added.

"All the time in the middle of the corner I was losing a lot of grip and at one point I got caught out at Turn One and spun.

"It's not ideal but luckily with the 360 I didn't lose too many positions. After that you are in the hunt but you can't overtake on this track so it's a bit of a shame.

"With the circumstances we were in, the damage we had, we still scored some points."

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