By Andrew Tate
To win the 2017 Formula One title Daniel Ricciardo needs three things – for Red Bull to provide a competitive car, be consistently ahead of his talented younger teammate and to overcome the dominance of Mercedes and, more particularly, Lewis Hamilton.
Tick, tick and tick. He's on to it.
"I think it is all there, like in terms of me personally I am where I need to be to pull off the sort of title that I am after," Ricciardo says from Perth this week where he is enjoying a post-season break with family.
"I have faith that – again, all the ingredients need to be there the equipment and what not – but if we are even a sniff of it then I think we can definitely make it happen next year ... you need everything to sort of fall into place, but I personally feel ready, definitely hungry enough that's for sure."
The 2016 season was ultimately a triumph for Daniel Ricciardo who finished third in the world championship despite a lot of bad luck.Credit: Tony Guitierrez
Ricciardo's 2016 season was ultimately a triumph. After lean times with an under-powered Renault engine Red Bull finally found some speed and the ability to occasionally match Mercedes. Then, after a promising start, Ricciardo faced unexpected challenges with the sudden arrival of a fast new teammate in Max Verstappen, followed by a run of bad luck that culminated in a pitstop blunder that cost him certain victory at Monaco.
By holding his nerve and cool to finish a brilliant third in the world championship, Ricciardo won even more admirers. His boss, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he was now a "complete driver".
With 2017 delivery year Ricciardo thinks the new regulations that redesign the cars for speed and downforce will play to Red Bull's strengths.
"We hope and believe that it will help us," he says. "The cars are going to be much more aerodynamic dependant and that's where we feel we are strong, but I guess on the flipside because there is going to be more downforce and drag on the car you are still going to need that horsepower to sort of pull you through.
"I don't know what the percentage [advantage] will be, but I sort of hope and feel that the aerodynamic side will have a bit more of a role or an effect, so from that point of view that is where we feel our strength is. We got more power this year which was good, but we obviously still need to make a pretty good step to get Mercedes. Yeah, hopefully the aerodynamics plays a bigger role."
Red Bull will keep in touch with Ricciardo over the break and he'll start training early next month to get the improved muscle he needs to stay strong in the driver's seat. He'll also have some input into elements of the car cockpit.
"The team will be in touch every now and then and maybe ask a couple of things, but more driver comfort things as opposed to design and that," he says. "I'll be honest in terms of design and that I'm nowhere near capable of telling the guys what shape that part should be … but I guess where I'm sort of strong is once we drive the car, it's then telling them what I think we should do now.
So his Red Bull will be competitive ... tick. What about fending off the ever-improving Verstappen?
(Hamilton) is massively talented and ... I think we would have a good fight, and, yeah, I'd have confidence that I could get the job done
"For me, I see it that if I do everything I've got to do preseason, if I'm physically prepared well, you know and I get into the test in February with the right sort of attitude then i definitely believe in my ability," he says. "I know that if I'm having not a perfect day there's a good chance that Max will get on top of me. But I feel that if I am just hitting my lines and hitting everything I've got to in the right way, then I sort of feel that I know what I've got."
If he's stronger and faster than Max, the only thing standing in Ricciardo's way would then be Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton – a man still hurting – and some would say pouting – from losing the world championship to his own teammate in 2016.
Can he beat Lewis in an evenly matched contest?
"Absolutely," Ricciardo says without hesitation. "It's something that I've been asked a few times - who would you love as a teammate and all that - and Lewis was one that I was always saying. Obviously I think that he is massively talented and ... I think we would have a good fight, and, yeah, I'd have confidence that I could get the job done."
In a rarity for Formula One Hamilton has gone out of his way to compliment Ricciardo, most notably after being gifted the Monaco win. Said the Briton on the podium: "He's just one of the best drivers I've raced against ... I'm looking forward to many more battles with him."
Hamilton might be careful what he wishes for, with Ricciardo aware that beating Mercedes is his primary purpose and Hamilton takes no prisoners.
"It's a tough one," Ricciardo says of his relationship with the enigmatic Hamilton. "He's never had anything bad to say about me. He's always been nice to me, but sure he has days where he likes to keep to himself.
"Some days we'll chat and other days we won't and that's just that. But at the same time, it's, sure I've made a few friends in the sport, but it's not our primary purpose of being here so I'm not expecting him to call me ... and he's not expecting the same from me. It's just how it is, he's got his own things going on ... he's sort of doing his thing really."
Ultimately though, Ricciardo thinks he has a secret weapon in his quest for a title. With Hamilton immersed in the social whirlpool of Formula One and Verstappen winding down by doing even more laps in a go-kart, Australia's man thinks his more relaxed lifestyle provides the perfect antidote to racing's demands.
"Go-karting," he laughs. "Don't get me wrong I like go-karting but I also like doing other things.
"I think it has been one of you know my strengths in a way being able to switch off. I don't really go to sleep at night thinking about racing or anything.
"You know some people say you should live and breathe the sport, but I tend to disagree with that. You need to actually have other things going on to take your mind off it, otherwise it will just wear you out. I think in the long run it will give me more longevity in the sport and keep my enjoyment up in it."
It helps also that Ricciardo's being made to work for his wins. This season, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel – a former Red Bull teammate – was notably frustrated at his inability to have a perfect weekend.
"I think Seb is pretty unique," Ricciardo says. "He is probably someone who does live and breathe it more than most and, you know, it seems like ... the majority of his life is the sport and being world champion. And again, that is not a bad thing, but when things are not going as you want, those frustrating ... things can build up because that is what you are really looking at in life I think for him he had a dream with Red Bull, you know one of the best runs in history.
"I think it was the best run in history, four straight titles, so I think for him he probably expected to have a dream run with Ferrari and it hasn't come as soon as he [would] have liked. Yeah it's frustration, but he is super talented, I think that sometimes he is his own worst enemy in terms of that frustration side of things ... when he cools down he's cool."
And while Ricciardo concedes that Vettel's blow ups in 2016 were also entertaining, he admits that his big innovation to the F1 podium – the shoey – had captured the imagination of the public in ways he had never envisaged. If he is to win a world championship can he really imagine drinking from his own sweaty shoe perhaps ten times in one season?
"Possibly, I haven't thought that far ahead," he laughs. "But yeah, I didn't think it would blow up like it did that's for sure. Everyone, even I heard Bernie Ecclestone, was loving it and they just loved that it was bringing a bit of comedy value to the podium.
"Whether it was disgusting or not that sort of was irrelevant, it was bringing something new to the sport, so we'll see, if I start winning a lot of races I might have to start taking some antibiotics or whatever, we'll see."
Tick, tick tick. Sip, sip sip.