27/01/2015
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat are relishing the start of the new season and the opportunity to take the fight to Mercedes.
Thankfully, Red Bull didn't take a leaf out of Ferrari's book and host its 'meet the drivers' media day in the Dolomites. Instead, the Austrian outfit hosted its skiing,
sledging and snowboarding event at the Snozone in Milton Keynes, which is just as well, as Daniel Ricciardo isn't a 'snow person', rather a 'sun person'.
As ever, however, just days before the start of pre-season testing the Australian was grinning ear to ear, relishing the challenge ahead.
"It was good, I had some time off," he said of the off-season break, "but to be honest I would have been happy if the season had kept going after Abu Dhabi.
"We had a pretty good run of races and I was enjoying it," he continued, "but at the same time you need to have some time off. That's all done now, though, and I have to say I'm looking forward to testing next week. I'm really hanging out to get behind the wheel now."
2014 was a fantastic season for the Australian, called up to replace Mark Webber as teammate to four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. Almost from the outset it was clear Ricciardo had no intention of being a walkover for the illustrious German indeed, as the season progressed he regularly outshone the German who eventually moved to Ferrari.
Whilst Vettel struggled with the 2014 car, Ricciardo simply got on with it, and in the process became the only driver, other than a works Mercedes driver, to stand atop the podium.
"The aim is just to try and do even more than last year," he said, looking ahead to the coming season when he effectively becomes team leader. "To get three wins with how we started last year was pretty cool but I expect to do better than that. Hopefully a few more wins than three and that will put us in championship hunt."
Engine supplier Renault, like Ferrari and Honda, has been given the all-clear to modify its engine and hopefully close the gap to Mercedes however, Ricciardo hopes the German manufacturer doesn't also take a significant step forward.
"Everyone is going to improve, that's a fact," he said. "But you'd like to think that Mercedes' room for improvement is smaller than everyone else's because I think they made so much of it last year.
"I hope I'm right," he continued, "I hope they don't have another fifty-percent step on top of what they've got but I think there's more room for us and Ferrari to make up that gap."
Teammate Kvyat, who clearly was at home on the snow, is looking to build on the momentum of his impressive debut season.
"It's very exciting for me this year," he said. "Obviously we'll do the best job possible with the team and I'm really looking forward to it."
Asked about the prospect of racing alongside Ricciardo, he said: "We've known each for a long time now, since we were in the Red Bull Junior Team so maybe five or six years, so everything is good, he's a really good guy.
"However, I know he'll be pushing very hard, like he proved last year, so I'll have to match that. We're both going to be trying to bring a very positive and strong energy to the team which I hope will take the team to the top.
"I will keep doing what I was doing in the past, more or less," he concluded. "It's not something that weighs on my mind. I think it's something that pushes me forward instead."
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