Daniel Ricciardo arrived at the Japanese Grand Prix in a reflective mood having dropped 24 points behind Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen in the Formula One Championship.
But despite a patchy race in Sochi and average result in Singapore, the Australian is still upbeat about his performances in 2018 and evidentially hungry to build on his wins at Shanghai and Monaco.
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“I had two really big results this year, but I haven’t had any podiums”, said Daniel on Thursday at Suzuka.
“Normally I don’t like 2nd’s or 3rd’s but I’d take that just to get back on the podium and have a bit of champagne”.
Having made the decision to switch to Renault next year, Ricciardo concedes that he may have to wait a while before seeing the podium again, but isn’t overly concerned by the impressive power figures being reported from Honda (who will be powering Red Bull next season) when compared to Renault’s power-plant.
“I think realistic next year we know it’s going to be slim to get a podium… So I’ll make the most of it”.
“Power is one thing but you need the reliability. Red Bull have already said they’re going to get more power than the Honda. How much we’ll see”.
“I’m not wishing against them, but more for my sake I hope Renault get it right. If the other teams do then so be it”.
Ricciardo’s qualifying performance have taken a bit of a battering this season when measured against Verstappen’s impressive run; which has seen the Dutchman score 12-2 against Ricciardo and 8 to 5 in races.
Daniel was quick to deflect the statistic with his usual humour.
“I think the system is a shamble”, joked Ricciardo.
“It’s been a bit bleak”, he admitted.
“I think I made my own bed after Monaco thinking this happiness was going to carry me through the rest of the year! But even if the season ended today I’d still look back on it with fond memories”.
“I thought I’d improved some things in qualifying from last year, but I haven’t gotten everything out of it… Or maybe Max is just getting a lot better. I don’t know”.
“Not taking anything away from Max, it’s not a case of 's--t he’s got bigger balls than me in that corner’ but I’d like to be more proactive in some things in terms of set-up”.
Coincidentally, Ricciardo has just completed his simulation program for Red Bull and understandably won’t spend any further time on development given his switch to the opposition.
When quizzed on whether this was affecting his set-up on race weekends, the Australian was philosophical.
“If I lose the next five races in a row then I’ll blame it on the SIM”, quipped Daniel”.
“But no my engineer and I are still doing our due diligence. I’d never pay a victory to a SIM.”
“I think the race pace of the car is pretty good. In the first stint in Sochi I broke my front wing and still did relatively okay. If our down-force is good here it should be a good sign”.
Red Bull once again have their C-Spec engine Renault engine back this weekend, which Ricciardo hopes will allow the team to challenge the currently underperforming Ferrari team.
“Ferrari have good pace but they’re not really showing it”, said Daniel. “So with that in mind we could definitely challenge”.
“I’m hoping there’s a headwind up the first sector so we can be properly on it and a tail wind down the back straight. Hopefully we get that tomorrow because it’s going to be a bit wet. I’m no weather guy but that’s what I read”.
Ricciardo will have the benefit of having driven the track early alongside SkySports F1 commentator Johnny Herbert for a promotional Pirelli Hot Laps session in a brand new Aston Martin DBS. An experience which didn’t exactly go to script.
“As greasy track with an expensive road car is not fun… I shat myself”, laughed Daniel.
Practice One for the Japanese Grand Prix begins at 11am AEST.