F1: Opportunity knocks for Daniel Ricciardo in new season

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo faces a pivotal year in his Formula One career with expectations of a muchimproved Red Bull performance and mounting speculation over where he will drive next season The 28yearold Australian who embarks on his eighth F1 season under the suffocating pressure and hype of competing at a home Grand Prix in Sundays opener in Melbourne endured a frustrating 2017 campaign He retired from three races with enginerelated problems including the misery of failing to finish in last years Melbourne race and amassed 70placesworth of grid penalties stemming from the unreliability of the teams Renault engines But Ricciardo is considered a championship threat with Red Bulls new RB14 car expected along with Ferrari to threaten the Lewis Hamiltonled Mercedes dominationThe optimism comes from winter testing in Barcelona when Ricciardo consistently registered fast lap times suggesting Red Bull may have overcome the teething issues of last year It feels like we are in a better place than we have been the last few seasons he said ahead of the new season We seem solid Soon well know on onelap pace where we are but I dont think we are far off Reliability will be crucial if they are to mount a serious challenge to Mercedes and Ferrari Red Bull had lifted four straight drivers and constructors world titles when the Australian was promoted from Toro Rosso in 2014 but have not claimed another since with Ricciardo winning five races for the senior teamIntoxicating mixWere certainly relying on the reliability to improve and we have made a pretty good step with that Ricciardo said I think we are obviously still not going to be on Mercedes level But in any case to win a championship you need to be finishing races let alone winning and once we can finish we can start taking points away and do our thing Adding to the intoxicating mix is the threat from ambitious 20yearold Dutch teammate Max Verstappen who while outscored by Ricciardo on race points last year regularly topped the Australian in qualifying Ricciardo said both of them desperately wanted to win You need that in a way and its not being a bad sport its not cheating its just that ruthless streak that every winner has in them I think Max and all the top guys in the sport have that in them Ricciardo will become a free agent in 2019 raising speculation about where he will be next season given the contracts of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari are also due to expire at the end of the yearSo much hypeIts nice to be in a position to plan my next two or three years to see what I want in the sport and where I plan on pitching it he said It will be interesting I will go through some conversations that will be new to me and Im kind of looking forward to that experience I think they Red Bull are keen to keep me obviously theyve got Max but I think they are keen to keep me and Max together But yeah well see Ricciardo is seeking to become the first home driver to win the Australian Grand Prix since it became part of the world championship calendar in 1985 Alan Jones was the last to top the podium in his home grand prix in 1980 a year when he also was the last Australian to win the Formula One world championship Starting the F1 season in Australia means there is so much hype and so much buildup now with me being the only Australian on the grid there is extra attention extra questioning and expectation Ricciardo said Its a lot but its fun its cool but it does mean I usually leave that weekend needing 48 hours of pure serenity and quietnessCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever