Ricciardo Responds To Fans Who Expect RB On Podium At First Race Weekend

Sunday, 25 February 2024 at 21:30

Daniel Ricciardo assessed where his team RB stands ahead of the first race of the 2024 season at Bahrain International Circuit.

RB wanted to take more advantage of their relationship with Red Bull Racing coming into the 2024 season. Red Bull obviously won last year's title by a comfortable margin.

Consequently, it is expected RB might make significant progress by outsourcing multiple parts of their car from Red Bull. After the team's car reveal, Daniel Ricciardo suggested his goal would be to fight for the top five finishes.

That would be immense progress for the team, whose best result during the most recent season was seventh place at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

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However, the Honey Badger then tried to temper the expectations after the three days of testing when he said fighting for (any) points during the first race of the season would be a good start. He also told the media:

"Before testing, a lot of people were saying, 'Is this the car that won the championship last year?' No, it's not that car."

By saying this, the 34-year-old wanted to emphasize that RB's 2024 challenger isn't a copy of the Red Bull from the most recent season. He continued:

"I think the top teams still have some legs on us in the midfield. We are trying to focus on ourselves."

The Australian F1 driver also reiterated that RB first needs to prove itself by at least getting to Q3 during the qualifying session on Friday and then achieving points during the race on Saturday.

Apparently, some have expected the Italy-based team to fight for podiums, but according to Ricciardo, that is not realistic. He added:

"Anyone expecting us to be on the podium next week, we are being realistic. That's not us but we still have some work to do. Q3 and points is our target. If we're not there next week then we certainly want to be there soon."