Daniel Ricciardo made his first public appearance today since he was confirmed as a Red Bull driver for 2014, and the Aussie made it clear that he was pleased that there would be no more interrogations from the media about his future.
“I think it’s a bit of a relief now that there’s no more speculation and no more dodging questions and all the rest of it,” he said. “Everyone knows what’s happening, including me. It’s nice. It’s something to look forward to and obviously I’m very pleased with the news, but I have eight more races this year and looking forward to giving Toro Rosso a nice farewell I hope and I’ll put all my energy into that.
“I think this weekend will of course be a bit hectic because the news is fresh but I think from this point on it should start to settle down and get back to normal stuff.”
Ricciardo insisted that he didn’t know until last week.
“To be honest, in Spa, as I said, I still didn’t know – that was the truth. I found out, I think it was Wednesday that following week, so a few days before the announcement took place. I can confirm I still didn’t know at Spa, so no lies being told there.”
Regarding his target for next year, he said: “I would love to be as competitive as I can as quickly as possible, so for me, I’ll obviously finish the season as strongly as possible with Toro Rosso, but as soon as it’s finished, switch my focus to 2014, try and put in a really good off-season, at least do as much as I can to prepare myself to be there for the first race.
“I know it’s obviously not going to be as easy as it seems but the best thing I can do is push myself as much as I can. I have one of the best teammates in the world now to measure myself against so no better man to have but him and push myself as hard as I can.”
Adam Cooper F1 