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Christian Horner says Red Bull's start to the 2016 season has been better than expected, despite missing out on victory during last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
Red Bull currently occupies third place in the Constructors' Championship, within touching distance of Ferrari, and collected a win at the Spanish Grand Prix courtesy of new recruit Max Verstappen.
"In pre-season we thought that Toro Rosso would be ahead of us, and certainly Williams, Ferrari and Mercedes," Horner explained in an interview with Red Bull's website.
"So to be sitting here after six races with three podiums – a third, a second, a win, and what should have really been two wins – is more than anybody could have dreamt of at the start of the year.
"I think it bodes well for the rest of the season. We're nine points behind Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship and there's still a long way to go."
Ricciardo's prospects of claiming victory in Monaco were scuppered by a slow stop, in which his tyres were not ready when he entered the pit box.
Horner says measures have been put in place to ensure that the issue does not arise again.
"With all such things there is never simply one thing that stands out as a root cause," he explained.
"It was the culmination of a number factors that came into play during the race – Max's stop, an aborted stop, a change of tyre compound.
"All of those things contributed to a scenario where ultimately the tyres that were believed to be available were not within the garage, but were in an area that was quite difficult to access and that, of course, led to the tyres not being available to Daniel at the point at which he stopped.
"Yes, it was hugely frustrating, but afterwards it was never going to be a finger-pointing exercise. As I said after the race, we win and we lose together as a team.
"It's a question of understanding what went wrong, working as a team to solve the issue and then taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again."
