Ricciardo believes Red Bull can compete for both championships

Ricciardo believes Red Bull can compete for both championships

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Wednesday 14 February 2018 11:48

Daniel Ricciardo reckons that Red Bull can compete for both the constructor's championship and the driver's championship this season due to the fact that there is not as many regulation changes as last year, whilst also praising the improvement in the new car.

Ricciardo only picked up one win last campaign while his young team-mate, Max Verstappen, picked up two. There has been speculation that the Australian could leave Red Bull at the end of 2018 if the team does not compete for the title, but he thinks they have what it takes to do so this time around.

Article continues under video

When asked by reporters this week if Red Bull can compete, Ricciardo said: “I believe so, [as there are] not so many rule changes.

“We improved the car a lot last year so I guess on principle we should just be able to carry that over for this year and keep evolving from there.

"We should be able to fight more often.Time will tell, but I’m confident.”

Ricciardo's solitary win last season came at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, win Red Bull's campaign being marred by reliability issues at certain period, but he believes the mood behind the scenes is positive, even if none of the staff are getting ahead of themselves.

“I feel there’s a good intensity, everyone’s not getting too excited," the 28-year-old added.

"We know we’ve got some work to do if we really want to achieve what we want. So we all know that we’ve got some desires that we want to attack this year.”