Speaking before this weekend’s 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo has said it’s too early to think about a championship challenge, despite winning last time out in China.
During Thursday’s FIA press conference, Ricciardo fielded questions about his latest grand prix victory. The Australian, who now sits fourth in the world championship, says his win in China was full of emotion.
“…the whole weekend, Saturday, FP3, another kinda head-down moment, but then to get out for qualifying and how the race turned out,” said Ricciardo. “It was cool. I guess just a lot emotion, happy emotions for sure. Yeah. The highs and lows of the sport can do that to you.”
Despite the victory, which saw Ricciardo launch himself from sixth to first through cunning strategy and audacious overtaking, he says he hasn’t seen enough from his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team to say that they can challenge for this year’s title.
“Probably haven’t seen enough from everyone yet!” said Ricciardo. “So, I’m not thinking about the Championship in that sense.
“Obviously, I want to think about being there. But yeah, naturally because we won everyone’s asking can we fight for the championship now? It’s still early – but I think we’ve proved, if we’re there, we can do a lot with it.
“That’s the plan: to continue to be there for the next few races.”
