Daniel Ricciardo’s GP win the first step to world title, predicts Jones

AUSTRALIA’s 1980 F1 world champion Alan Jones says Daniel Ricciardio will one day match his achievement.

Ricciardo’s GP win just a start: Jones

BEFORE Daniel Ricciardo jumped into the cockpit for Red Bull Racing at Albert Park and announced himself as a future world champion with “the podium finish you have when you’re not having a podium finish” at the Australian Grand Prix, every Formula One driver had been instructed to nominate the number they wanted stamped on their cars for the season.

Ricciardo went for the No 3, the figure on the side of his kart when he was a young ’un and the ­number of his idol in his formative years as a revhead — the late American NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

Ricciardo’s Red Bull stablemate Sebastien Vettel was ordered to use numero uno as the reigning world champion but according to Australia’s most recent holder of the crown, 1980 world champion Alan Jones, Ricciardio may assume that honour in the not-too-distant future after proving his mettle by winning the crash-marred Canadian Grand Prix.

“In the years to come, I think he will get there, yes,” Jones told The Australian after Ricciardo’s breakthrough triumph at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

“He’s proven he’s got the talent. He’s proven he can win races. He’s proved it to himself. He’s broken the duck now, he’s won a damn sight more races than most people do. He knows he can do it and that’s an enormous boost.

“He can start setting his sights higher. I don’t think he was lacking in ambition and a bit of confidence to start with, but getting over the line like this is enormous for him psychologically.”

Ricciardo’s debut season for Red Bull has been impossibly dramatic, beginning with his disqualification from the Melbourne GP after he was allowed to go through the headiness and false delirium of the presentation ceremony.

It took four weeks before Red Bull’s appeal was rejected. He snaffled another podium finish, and this one stuck, at the Monaco event before he prevailed on Sunday, pouncing on Mercedes Benz’s mechanical disasters to take the first chequered flag of his F1 career.

“I’m trippin’ balls!” was Ricciardo’s reaction before officialdom knocked the stuffing out of him at Melbourne in March. “Hooly dooly!” was his response at Monaco. “Bloody beauty!” he roared at Montreal before pouring champagne into the trophy, pumping his fists and taking a hearty swig.

Horrifying late collisions into the tyre wall by Force India’s Sergio Perez and Williams’s Felipe Massa had marred the finish before Ricciardo passed the crippled Mercedes of Nico Rosberg with two laps to go.

“I’m shocked, this is ridiculous,” he said after becoming only the fourth Australian to win a grand prix. “It still seems a bit surreal to be honest, just because it all happened so quickly at the end. I was third for a while and then it all happened in a really exciting fashion.

“I pictured myself as a kid standing up on top of the podium, and when you’re up there, it feels a bit weird. It all happened in the last few laps. I think that’s why it’s still taking a while to comprehend in my head.”

The late Jack Brabham, who died last month aged 88, Jones and the driver Ricciardo replaced at Red Bull this year, Mark Webber, are the only Australians to have won at the F1 level. Rosberg’s engine faltered before he limped home for second and a commanding 22-point lead on the world standings. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was forced out with brake failure 24 laps from home.

It was the first loss of the year for the Mercs.

Ricciardo’s win came behind a safety car after Perez and Massa crashed at 240km/h in the last lap.

“Obviously I’m still going to take the victory but don’t get me wrong, they (Mercedes) had their issues today and it enabled us to close on them,” Ricciardo said. “It surprised us because of the pace Mercedes has had all year. It allowed us to attack and we capitalised on that.

“It would have been disappointing if they had their issues and they were still able get the better of us. It’s going to take a little bit to sink in but I’m so very proud — great to hear the Aussie anthem. Standing on that podium is one of best feelings in the world.

“Seeing the team and quite a few Aussie flags and a bit of a chant going on, it’s so amazing. It’s nice that support for Mark (Webber) has rolled on and people have come out for me. I’m just pleased to do the country proud.’’

Ricciardo tempered his celebrations until he was assured Perez and Massa had avoided ­serious injuries. High-speed crashes stop the F1 fraternity in its tracks. Ricciardo’s childhood hero, Earnhardt, was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Ricciardo delayed his return to Europe so the revelry could be long and loud.

It was Australia’s first F1 victory since Webber won at Silverstone in 2012. Webber tweeted: “Bloody fantastic @danielricciardoGP winner get in there!!!”

“I call him the smiling assassin but he can grow horns when he has to,” Jones said. “I’d rather have a complete arsehole behind the wheel if he’s winning races than have a nice bloke who isn’t winning. But Daniel gives you the best of both worlds. He’s a good bloke who wins.

“Formula One is an unpredictable business. Who’d have thought Mercedes would dominate they way they have? But Daniel’s got one under his belt now and he knows he can do it.

“His first win isn’t going to be his last.”