He may be some way off the Championship leaders but Daniel Ricciardo believes this year’s F1 title race is the most exciting it’s been for years.
As the season nears its halfway stage and the teams take a collective deep breath following the sport’s first-ever triple header, the Red Bull driver finds himself in fourth place, 65 points behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
The Australian knows the odds are firmly stacked against him bridging the gap, particularly when he and teammate Max Verstappen “take too many points away from each other.”
But equally he believes the days of one team dominating are over, and that can only be a good thing for a sport.
The story of the 2018 F1 season so far
“It’s been a bigger battle,” Ricciardo told CNN The Circuit at Silverstone.
“I’ll use Lewis [Hamilton] as an example but let’s say any Mercedes driver in the last five years – the fight has just been with them and their teammate.
“Sure, maybe me, Max [Verstappen] or Seb [Vettel] has taken a win here or there. But I think this year is going to be more rewarding.
“Whoever wins the title – even if it’s Lewis again – I think he’ll feel more fulfilled.”
Mercedes duo Hamilton and Nico Rosberg won 19 of the 21 races in 2016 – the German marque taking the Constructor’s Championship by a whopping 297 points.
By contrast, after 10 Grands Prix this season, four different drivers have already topped the podium – Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo all getting in on the action.
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Even if the latter doesn’t end up doing any more trademark shoeys, he’s confident F1 is moving in the right direction.
American photographer Joshua Paul, who uses a 105-year-old camera to document F1, interviewed Daniel Ricciardo for CNN Sport in the latest episode of The Circuit. Watch the video at the top of the page to find out more.