Ricciardo realises how important his first season at Red Bull Racing was
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo faced a fast young teammate at Red Bull Racing in 2016 who was almost immediately on his heels. A familiar situation for him, because two years earlier he had done the same to Sebastian Vettel.
In The Howie Games podcast Ricciardo talks about that first year at Red Bull Racing. He was promoted from Toro Rosso as a replacement for Mark Webber and immediately put the German under pressure.
"I knew what he was capable of. I hadn't proven myself yet, but for that season I certainly believed I could be on a par with Seb. If I wouldn't beat him, I would definitely get close."
2014 is a very important year for Ricciardo
Vettel had difficulty adapting to the new hybrid cars and was only on the podium a few times. Ricciardo, on the other hand, won three times and finished third in the championship behind the Mercedes duo. The Australian realises how important that season has been for his career.
"I could really start there with all that overtaking madness, I surprised people. They just thought 'oh okay he has come through the Red Bull programme, he has a top position now, but Red Bull didn't really have other options, we don't have to worry about him'. But I certainly feel that I made a quick point and that was important to me. I had to rebuild my reputation."