Eyeing a doable return to his outdated staff, Daniel Ricciardo admits that Pink Bull is remorseless in its quest for continued success and seeks to crush its opposition.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 elevate his sport.
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 staff has been the discuss of the paddock this week and whereas it has but to indicate its hand when it comes to outright tempo, Ricciardo says that Pink Bull’s ‘killer intuition’ will see the staff search to grind its rivals into the mud.
“I snigger as a result of I am shocked… however I am not,” he informed 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 searching for to boost the benchmark.
“I really feel it is a staff that operates at its greatest after they’re successful,” he continued. “I really feel like after they’re successful, it is like they wish to simply fully crush the competitors.
“It isn’t like, ‘okay, now we’re successful, let’s go on vacation’, it is like, ‘let’s actually put our ft down’. In order that’s the place I believe they’ve come out this 12 months. After essentially the most dominant season in ’23, they now come out with a automobile that I believe even I used to be like, ‘wow!’.”
In fact, key to that domination is Adrian Newey, who, Ricciardo admits, is eternally searching for extra from his automobiles.
“I like seeing Adrian close to the automobile and that,” mentioned the Australian. “And I do not even really feel dangerous 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 sort of relentless strategy 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 would like somebody to problem Pink Bull this 12 months’,” he admitted. “However it’s important to admire their strategy.”
That mentioned, Ricciardo would not imagine the RB20 can be as dominant as its predecessor.
“It appears practically inconceivable,” he mentioned. “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 is going to be as dominant as final 12 months. They will win races. I am positive they’ll. However I would not go so far as saying but that it is going to be unbeatable.
“I believe, System 1 is just too unpredictable for them to be unbeatable,” he aded. “I believe they will do very nicely however yeah, too early to have that confidence.”
As for pre-season claims that his personal staff would possibly show to be the season’s darkish horse, the Australian mentioned: “I believe folks acquired excited from, for example the surface, followers, acquired excited. I believe they thought we have been going to be a distinct model of one other automobile from the previous however it’s not that, it is not that. There was the rumours and a bit of pleasure it was going to be, however it’s actually not.
“When it comes to efficiency, we’re as anticipated,” he continued. “We’re making an attempt to battle in that midfield group. There’s positively work to do to catch the entrance guys, however that is no shock, however I believe it was a fairly easy check.
“I do not suppose we depart right here with any issues or scratching our heads, I believe we all know the place we’re and we have got to maintain working for right here.”
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