Daniel Ricciardo targeting Monaco redemption in Singapore
Daniel Ricciardo believes that this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix is his best chance to log a win in 2016, after a mix-up in the pits cost him the victory in Monaco.
Many observers believe that Red Bull can give Mercedes a hard time this weekend, even if the silver cars don't hit problems.
"It's obviously the next closest track to Monaco, so sure we look at it as a good chance to try to get the victory I've been after this season," said Ricciardo. "With the team, since Monaco, a lot of things have been working better, in terms of I think we've executed a lot more on a Sunday, and I've left Sundays feeling a lot happier the last handful of races, so that's been good on both sides.
"I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself or them for this weekend, but I think deep down we obviously want to win. I believe we are a group of winners, so if there is a bit of pressure on us to get it done then I think we will thrive off that. Let's see what happens. I'm definitely prepared and excited. I don't know what I'm paying for a top 10, but it's safe money."
Ricciardo agreed that tires would be one of the keys to the weekend, with teams making different choices on how many supersofts they have and so on.
"I think it can maybe decide a few things, whether it's on Sunday I'm not sure. Obviously we've got freedom to use any of those tires during practice. Maybe us or Ferrari for example, will change our practice runs now, and use a different compound to try and have something similar for the race.
"Because it's so hot, the tires do normally get a hard time, and it's low speed corners, a lot of traction and the rears can get a hard time for sure so I think if you've got too many softer compounds, you might run into a bit of trouble in the race but we'll see.
"It's been quite exciting this year, being able to use three compounds over a weekend and having been forced to choose them months in advance. Sure, if we could have picked the tires this week, we all probably would have done something different. It's a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated."
Meanwhile, Ricciardo gave an insight into his now infamous "shoey" podium celebration.
"I didn't start it! Well, as far as I know I started it in Formula One, but not worldwide. It was a few loose Aussies, from what I saw, the Mad Hueys, they're surfies and fisherman and just loose guys, they travel the world fishing, surfing and whatever and they like to drink a bit of beer and whatnot, and that's where the shoey began. On their travels they'd get people to do it as well and it's just a bit of a laugh.
"I know (MotoGP rider) Jack Miller knows a few of the guys from the Mad Hueys, so when he got his win in Assen, I suspected he was going to do it, and he did, so I thought I'd keep the Australian tradition going - and now Valentino's got in on the mix, I saw he Instagrammed it yesterday and he said "everyone loves a shoey," and "delicious," and all that. A few words I used for it. I think it's just a bit of fun now - everyone's enjoying it.
"Honestly, if the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. Normally it's cold on the podium, if it's warm then sure, you'd get the sweat and that through it - but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it's delicious, as we said!"
