Daniel Ricciardo interviewed by ŚwiatWyścigów.pl
Daniel Ricciardo is among the Formula 1’s most popular drivers. But do not let his positive attitude deceive you – in his four years with Red Bull Racing, he has twice in the top three of the championship and currently holds the keys to the 2019 driver market. During the last week’s Barcelona winter testing, he sat down with ŚwiatWyścigów.pl’s Roksana Ćwik.
During the testing you have said that Red Bull is pretty close to Mercedes, but you do not know how fast is the Ferrari. Then, they have done the fastest times of all. What do you think about it?
The Ferraris seem to be quite fast. Even if they were running low fuel, it was still a very fast time. It looks like the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull will be once again fighting at the front. I still do not know who is the fastest but I think it might still be Mercedes. I am also not sure if any other team will be close enough to join the fight.
Some drivers have said that with the new tarmac it is like having a completely new track. Do you agree with such view?
It is a bit different, but it is ok. I do like the old surfaces, with their bumps and character, but it is not a problem. I would not say that this makes a circuit new – if they were to resurface a street track like Monaco, it would change a lot more than the one here.
And what about the difficulty of analysing the data?
Yes, that is a challenge. The new tarmac has quite a lot of grip but it is also very smooth and works the tyre differently. I think we will have to wait until Melbourne to see how much faster the new cars really are.
Pirelli have made changes to their tyres for this year. What is the main difference between them and the previous ones?
Honestly, there is not that much of a difference. When it is cold, it is very difficult to make them work, but in any kind of normal conditions they does not seem that much different.
Renault has promised that this year the engine will operate at the peak performance at every track. How much difference would it make?
I think our chassis is as good as the Mercedes’, but we lose some lap time to them, especially in qualifying, where they do have a good engine mode. So, we would still need to find a few tenths, and also have a good reliability, which was a problem for us last year.
The season starts with your home race in Australia. Do you feel excited about it?
Yes, I am very excited. It has been a long off-season, so now I want to race and compete.
It is the final year of your current contract. When will we hear some news about your future?
For sure not until the first few races are done, then I might start to take a look at maybe some options.
If you could change something in the current breed of cars, what would it be?
The engines, or at least make them noisier.
What do you think about Halo?
It looks quite bad, but it does not change anything in the driving.
Liberty Media have expressed an interest in regionalising the calendar and reducing the traveling. What do you think of it?
I think it would be good to do all American races at once, then the same with Europe and Asia. It would also make sense logistically. It seems strange that we go from Brazil straight to Abu Dhabi. I think they could do a better job with the calendar and maybe that is the solution.
There is also some talk about potential new races in Hanoi and Las Vegas…
Las Vegas sounds good.
If you get to stand on the podium this year, do we get to see the ‘shoey’?
Yes, I think so.
Your parents have found the oldest letter bottle in the world. Could you tell us more about it?
Yes! My mom sent me a text saying that she forgot to tell me that they found this message in a bottle a few weeks ago, so I went on Google and it is everywhere! They were in the beach house with a F1 photographer from Perth, and they found the letter on the beach. They did a research on it and now is it a famous message in the bottle, so that is quite funny!
Finally, for an Australian it seems strange that you do not like windsurfing.
I am afraid of sharks.
