Ricciardo knows hard work key to title success

DANIEL Ricciardo is ready to launch his campaign for the Formula One championship at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, but has conceded he is not banking on the title landing in his lap this year.

Third in the drivers’ championship last year behind Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Australia’s Ricciardo said he was eager to get the season underway as he and Red Bull aim to close the gap on the pacesetting Mercedes.

Asked if he would be happy with anything less than the world championship this year, Ricciardo said it was his goal, but was not building up his hopes.

“I kind of learned a few years ago that obviously you come to win and you want to win every race and no one has ever done that, so you have got to expect to not always win,’’ Ricciardo said.

“That’s certainly my aim, it’s my target to be world champion. I’ll do what I can to make it happen this year, but I’m not expecting it to happen. I’ll work hard and prepare for it to happen.’’

Ricciardo said results from testing pre-season indicated Red Bull were “half a second” off the pace of the dominant Mercedes.

He promised Formula One fans would see a much better spectacle with the new regulations that have created more aggressive-looking cars and are expected to lower times by as much as five seconds a lap.

“The high-speed corners for me is what you enjoy the most. That’s where Formula One cars make the difference to other categories, it’s the corner speeds,’’ Ricciardo said.

“Like Barcelona turn three we were doing close to 40km/h quicker minimum speed than we were last year, so you’re going from 220-260km/h so that’s a big difference.”

Ricciardo said the Albert Park circuit would provide a good physical test for drivers.