Ricciardo: I knew I could beat Vettel

Daniel Ricciardo won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix in June at the Canadian Grand Prix, which has made him and continues to make him very happy. In an interview with *As*, he reflected on this success and his arrival at Red Bull: « If the question is whether I am still the happiest man, then I tell you yes, my joy still lasts. It’s a unique moment and the best feeling a F1 driver can experience. To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations for this year, beyond enjoying myself and being on the track. »

The Australian also spoke about the incredible work done by Red Bull and Renault to turn around a poorly started situation at the beginning of the season, making the Austrian car more competitive than it was at the start: « It’s incredible, the team managed to take a surprising turn after what we did in February, it has been an amazing job between Red Bull and Renault. Do I think winning just one race is enough? So far, we’ve won in Canada and the Mercedes had issues, but we have a great team that deserves to win. »

Daniel Ricciardo hopes he will have the opportunity to win new races this season, even though he is aware of the complicated situation, especially against Mercedes. But the Perth native is pleased to have managed to regularly beat his four-time world champion teammate from the first race of the year, in Australia: « I hope [to win more races], there are still quite a few remaining in the championship. In fact, if we make progress, we can stay with the Mercedes, even if it will be very complicated to beat them because they are doing an excellent job. Going back to preseason, we couldn’t do much testing, in Australia I had a very good feeling with the car. »

The Red Bull driver also reflected on losing his podium in Australia: « I am really disappointed, but I was very satisfied with the weekend. The car was competitive, I achieved a good result on the starting grid [2nd alongside Lewis Hamilton], I really enjoyed the whole race week… I was under a lot of pressure because I was in my country, it was my first race with Red Bull. But losing the podium is not a problem, it happened at the end and there is not much more to say. »

The former Toro Rosso driver also reflected on the fact of having immediately dominated his teammate, which was quite unexpected for many F1 observers: « My physiotherapist, Stuart Smith, and I [believed in it]. And maybe someone else. There is always someone who trusts me as much as I trust myself. It’s never about fighting against Vettel; it’s always about beating your teammate, the guy who has the same car, and seeing if this year he is faster or slower. What will happen during the rest of the season remains a mystery. I knew that if I was comfortable with the car, with the team, I could compete with Sebastian. For now, everything is going well. If I do things right, I am able to fight on equal terms with Sebastian. I knew I could try to beat him. »

Ricciardo also talked about his relationship with the German and what he can learn alongside him, particularly his working methods: « Especially the way he communicates with the team, the technical questions, the sessions where we inform the team, attention to detail is very important, the way of communicating, but not only through what happens in the car. »

The Australian driver does not forget that he succeeds Mark Webber; he also expresses his goal of becoming F1 world champion: « Mark was somewhat of a role model for me. Now, I’m part of the new generation and I hope to have the same influence he had on me so that young people can come from Australia to Europe [in motorsport] and other sports. Yes, of course, I think I can be [world champion]. This year, it will be tough, but we will see next season, my goal is to be champion as soon as possible, we’ll see in 2015. Nothing is impossible, but next year there might be better opportunities ».

Ricciardo could well finish as “the best of the rest” behind the two Mercedes drivers in the drivers’ championship, but he knows he has many rivals: « I think I can do it, I think my biggest rival is Vettel, Alonso is always there too, even if the Ferrari doesn’t seem very competitive. Bottas as well… I don’t know, I’m not really worried about the others. But what would make me happy, my real goal is to be world champion. »

The Australian also said he is adapting well to the transition from Toro Rosso to Red Bull without forgetting his time with the defunct HRT team at the very beginning of his career: « [The transition] went well, there is more pressure of course the team always expects to win, but it’s a team that makes me grow and is ambitious, it has a different mentality. At HRT, I learned a lot, it was an important step in my career, same at Toro Rosso. These teams have to fight very hard and you learn a lot, the stint at Hispania was a good thing for my career. »

He has finally found his means to relax outside of F1 even though he would like to try other sports: « I ride a bike, I like biking in the mountains, relaxing. I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu whenever I can. I also like tennis. I would like to ride a MotoGP, but also do motocross. »