Daniel Ricciardo arrived at the Grand Circus in the middle of the 2011 season. The Australian, once one of the great diamonds in the rough of Red Bull’s young driver academy, claimed Narain Karthikeyan’s seat at HRT, thanks in part because from the energy drink brand they wanted it to adapt to the category.
After half a season and two more at Toro Rosso, his first team debut came in 2014, alongside a Sebastian Vettel who had just won his fourth consecutive world championship. However, Ricciardo did not give up and was the only one of the pair who managed to win that season. Specifically, he won three races, but one was more special than the rest.
The 2014 Canadian GP was the first time the Australian stood on the top step of the podium and, eight years later, he has confessed how much it made him feel.
“I convinced myself that I would be world champion the following year and that we would have a better car. I thought: ‘if I can win this race, I will win many more’. My thoughts were ahead of me ,” the Australian told the New York Post . .
“But I think my actions were the right ones, it’s not like I did stupid things and bought a yacht [or] started getting arrogant. But I probably got too excited about what was going to come.”
Ricciardo finished third in the overall drivers’ standings that year, two places ahead of four-time champion Vettel, and although many years have passed since that race, he still remembers the moment that confirmed his belief in himself.
“After your first win, you feel like you’re invincible. I probably had too high expectations of how many races I could win than I ended up winning,” the McLaren driver added.
“Unfortunately, bad races are quite common in this sport, so I don’t want them to determine how I feel the following week. Last year I was in a similar situation, but I didn’t handle it as well and it started to affect my friendships at times. Ricciardo admitted.
