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Daniel Ricciardo believes there is time for Red Bull to make the changes required to its 2014 Formula 1 car so its season can begin properly in the Bahrain test.

After a nightmare first week of pre-season running at Jerez beset by overheating and power unit frustrations, Red Bull ended its efforts early on Friday afternoon.

The team is likely to need to make modifications to the packaging of its Renault power unit, while its engine partner is hoping to find a cure to the software and mapping issues that have affected all its teams.

Alarm bells ringing at Red Bull

But although Red Bull is firmly on the back foot after completing just 21 laps over the four days at Jerez, Ricciardo insists that there is no panic yet at Milton Keynes.

"Time is on our side," he said, referring to the three-week gap before the Bahrain test begins.

"We do have a few weeks, which is good. We know what the team is capable of, and we know how hard they work, or I have seen that from the past few years of hanging around a little bit.

"I know what they are like. You hear stories that they turn things around quicker than anyone else here, so that definitely gives me a lot of positiveness and optimism about it all."

PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED

Ricciardo is always confident that Red Bull knows what needs to be done to resolve the cooling issues that struck at Jerez.

"I think the positives are that although we could not solve the issues here at the track, we know what needs to be solved," he said.

"We just need more time to solve the issues that we had, but I think they are pretty clear in everyone's minds."

The Australian also thinks anyone who suggests that Red Bull's season is already facing trouble is speaking too early.

"We do have the best team in the world and they are going to turn this around," he said.

"It is not like the season has started yet. We are not losing points by not driving now or anything like that.

"We still have a long time to get some track time lost here. For the few laps I did in the car, it still feels like a racecar. It is not something that is out of the ordinary."