Eyeing a doable return to his outdated crew, Daniel Ricciardo admits that Pink Bull is remorseless in its quest for continued success and seeks to crush its opposition.
Whereas all eyes are on the vacant seat at Mercedes in 2025 there would possibly but be one other high berth up for grabs, that at Pink Bull ought to Sergio Perez not considerably increase his recreation.
One potential teammate to Max Verstappen is Daniel Ricciardo, who’s again at RB this 12 months alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
For varied causes the Austrian crew has been the discuss of the paddock this week and whereas it has but to point out its hand by way of outright tempo, Ricciardo says that Pink Bull’s ‘killer intuition’ will see the crew search to grind its rivals into the mud.
“I chortle as a result of I am shocked… however I am not,” he advised reporters in response to the truth that versus merely choosing up the place it left off in November, the Milton Keynes primarily based outfit is in search of to lift the benchmark.
“I really feel it is a crew that operates at its greatest once they’re profitable,” he continued. “I really feel like once they’re profitable, it is like they need to simply utterly crush the competitors.
“It isn’t like, ‘okay, now we’re profitable, let’s go on vacation’, it is like, ‘let’s actually put our toes down’. In order that’s the place I feel they’ve come out this 12 months. After probably the most dominant season in ’23, they now come out with a automobile that I feel even I used to be like, ‘wow!’.”
In fact, key to that domination is Adrian Newey, who, Ricciardo admits, is endlessly in search of extra from his vehicles.
“I like seeing Adrian close to the automobile and that,” stated the Australian. “And I do not even really feel unhealthy singling Adrian out, as a result of I do know it is extra than simply Adrian, however he is clearly an enormous a part of it. And it is fairly cool to see.
“Whether or not I am a part of the household or not, I, simply as a fan, like to see that type of relentless method and response to such a robust 12 months. It is like it’s important to, in a manner, admire it.
“I do know, clearly, for followers watching on the sofa, they’re like, ‘nah, I need somebody to problem Pink Bull this 12 months’,” he admitted. “However it’s important to admire their method.”
That stated, Ricciardo does not consider the RB20 shall be as dominant as its predecessor.
“It appears practically not possible,” he stated. “Due to simply what number of races there are, and whether or not you get a moist race or not.
“Look,” he continued, “as a lot as they introduced a brand new automobile to the season and I am positive it is nonetheless going to be a race-winning automobile, I do not know, it is too early to be that positive that it should be as dominant as final 12 months. They are going to win races. I am positive they may. However I would not go so far as saying but that it should be unbeatable.
“I feel, Formulation 1 is simply too unpredictable for them to be unbeatable,” he aded. “I feel they will do very nicely however yeah, too early to have that confidence.”
As for pre-season claims that his personal crew would possibly show to be the season’s darkish horse, the Australian stated: “I feel individuals received excited from, as an example the skin, followers, received excited. I feel they thought we have been going to be a distinct model of one other automobile from the previous nevertheless it’s not that, it is not that. There was the rumours and a bit of pleasure it was going to be, nevertheless it’s actually not.
“By way of efficiency, we’re as anticipated,” he continued. “We’re making an attempt to battle in that midfield group. There’s undoubtedly work to do to catch the entrance guys, however that is no shock, however I feel it was a fairly clean check.
“I do not assume we go away right here with any issues or scratching our heads, I feel we all know the place we’re and we have got to maintain working for right here.”
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