Ricciardo Eyeing a Title Battle on 1 Condition

Aston Martin Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo believes that he can challenge for the 2018 title. To that end, he sad that one more victory before the summer break would guarantee him an outside chance.

The Australian took his second win of the season in Monaco last weekend. With that, he has rocketed to third in the standings on 72 points.

While Red Bull are not exactly a match for Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of speed, that has not stopped them from mounting a challenge. The engine disadvantage is quite pronounced in qualifying, but Ricciardo has the same number of wins as Hamilton and second-placed Sebastian Vettel after six races.

“I think it’s a natural question after a victory,” he said. “Lewis still has a pretty good buffer on me, so we’re still on the outside of that.

“It’s not impossible but not really at the forefront of my mind yet. Even if it was, I’m not going to change the way that I’m driving or trying to attack.

“We’ve got to probably prove on at least one other circuit before the summer break that we can win again and then maybe we’ve a nice little outside chance.”

Ricciardo’s next best chance to win again before the break will be in Hungary. The Red Bull has traditionally been strong at the Hungaroring.

Its hopes also hang on to Renault’s progress as they plan to bring an engine upgrade for next week’s Canadian GP.

Ricciardo said “Montreal will be interesting” and that his short-term target is to try to get “a few more podiums”.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is also keen to see Red Bull’s progress from Canada onwards. The British driver has admitted that the championship is “definitely a three-way fight”.

“Hopefully, while this race wasn’t the most exciting, it’s great for the fans to see this battle that we’re having,” said Hamilton.

“I personally love it. It’s challenging me more than I can express, the biggest challenge that I’ve had.”