Ricciardo satisfied to beat Vettel

Daniel Ricciardo is having an exceptional season in F1, the Australian driver manages to outperform Sebastian Vettel, who has been the best in the field for the past four years.

The two Red Bull drivers have opposing objectives: the new Red Bull driver is fighting to catch up with the Mercedes, while the reigning four-time world champion is fighting to finish on the podium.

Ricciardo reflects on having dominated Vettel:

« You know, he is an impressive benchmark for me to be judged against, and not just the other drivers but him in particular. I’ve shown really good speed against him not only in qualifying but in the races that have been encouraging. So yes, I appreciate it. Of course, I’m not going to lie to you, I feel good » he explained in an interview with CNN.

The 2014 season is a complicated one for Red Bull. The Renault engine was not reliable compared to the Mercedes engine.

In the world championship, Red Bull’s highest-ranked driver, Daniel Ricciardo, is 3rd, trailing Nico Rosberg, the current leader, by 71 points and Lewis Hamilton by 60 points.

In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull has 219 points while Mercedes has 393 points.

Asked about the trials, Ricciardo remains fatalistic:

« It’s… You know… We’ve certainly had more difficult moments, especially the winter tests, we didn’t get much mileage at all. We always feel like we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot a bit this year » he said.

The Australian driver is convinced that Red Bull is a great team but is well aware of the challenges.

« Yes, you know it, Red Bull is a huge team and we can develop much faster than the other teams. I think you know that this year is more difficult than what they have experienced in previous years. But, you know, obviously it’s a challenge that we are all aware of and need to overcome. So I think the best thing is to try to move on and do what we can with the current situation » he explains.

Ricciardo has hopes for the future of his career: « I want to continue, I suppose, to build on what I have achieved and also learned over these first six months. I feel that since I’ve been in Formula 1, the second part of the season has always gone better for me.

I want to continue learning from my first six months so that I can achieve better results in the second half of the year.

There are also some exciting tracks coming up: Spa, Japan is a good circuit not to mention other tracks like Austin among others so we’ll see how it goes, we’ll try to get a few more wins, he concluded.