{"id":35454,"date":"2021-02-16T07:55:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T08:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=35454"},"modified":"2021-02-16T12:09:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T12:09:30","slug":"ricciardo-makes-bold-prediction-for-new-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=35454","title":{"rendered":"Ricciardo makes bold prediction for new team"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian hasn't lifted the Formula 1 world championship trophy in 40 years, but Daniel Ricciardo<\/a> has declared he's on the cusp of breaking the drought in his new colours.<\/p>\n

The Western Australian's new racing team, McLaren<\/a>, last night showed off their new car for the 2021 season, in which Ricciardo will make his McLaren debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 29.<\/p>\n

An Australian hasn't tasted Formula 1 world championship glory since Alan Jones in 1980, and while Ricciardo says he's likely not ready to take the crown this year, the 31-year-old believes his time will come in his three-year stint with McLaren.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/McLarenF1\/status\/1361399638209740804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"I truly believe I can (win the world championship) and I believe I can in this next chapter with McLaren," Ricciardo told Nine News.<\/p>\n

"This year is certainly a stretch, and that's not to be pessimistic, but there's probably not enough rule changes happening to swing it massively. I believe in my ability to nudge the car a little bit further up, but I think probably once the new rules come in 2022 we'll get a pretty good picture.<\/p>\n

"I think everything McLaren is doing as a team – for me it looks like they are on the right path to give me that."<\/p>\n

One of Ricciardo's strongest weapons in his first season with McLaren could be the team's new Mercedes engine.<\/p>\n

McLaren's use of a Honda engine proved fruitless and their switch to a Renault motor was marred by reliability issues, but McLaren principal Andreas Seidl believes German manufacturer Mercedes could launch his team into an era of dominance.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/McLarenF1\/status\/1361407331985154050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"We wanted to get a championship-winning power unit in the back of our car," Seidl told Motorsport Magazine.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo doubts he will win his maiden Formula 1 world championship title this year because the former Renault driver sees the 2021 season as an experimental phase. Not only is he set to operate with a new motor, he will also have to adjust to McLaren's new aerodynamics.<\/p>\n

"I obviously like to think (I'll have a sneaky chance next year). Probably by the middle of this year we'll have an understanding of how the development for next year is tracking, so I could probably answer it better then," Ricciardo said.<\/p>\n

"But even so, it's probably all speculation until the cars get on track.<\/p>\n

"We might look really good on paper … but you never know what the other teams are doing. But I think the right people are in place to make this a very successful team."<\/p>\n

Ricciardo hasn't won a world championship race since conquering the field at Monaco in 2018, a race in which he edged Formula 1 greats Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Last year he had two podium finishes and was ranked fifth overall.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo said podium finishes would be his aim in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I made a big point to get back on the podium (in 2020) and I did that. It was really good to get back up there," Ricciardo said.<\/p>\n

"Starting this year I want to be aiming to be back on the podium. If that happens to be a win as opposed to a second or a third then of course I'll take it, but I'll set the bar at a podium expectation for 2021 and see what that delivers."<\/p>\n

Australian Formula 1 fans are hoping the next trademark Ricciardo shoey is not far away.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Australian hasn't lifted the Formula 1 world championship trophy in 40 years, but Daniel Ricciardo has declared he's on the cusp of breaking the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35456,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35454\/revisions\/35456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}