MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo's sights beyond Monza

Daniel Ricciardo has modest ambitions for this weekend's Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Monza, but much higher hopes for the following races in Singapore and at Suzuka in Japan.

The 25-year-old Australian, third in the Formula One World Championship standings but 64 points behind Nico Rosberg and 35 in arrears of Lewis Hamilton, is not rating himself a serious title chance yet.

But he says he may be if things have gone to plan by the time the chequered flag is waved at Suzuka on October 5.

Four races are scheduled after that – the new Russian GP at Sochi, the US and Brazilian rounds, then the finale in Abu Dhabi carrying double points.

Ricciardo cannot see himself winning a third straight GP, and a fourth in his first season with Red Bull Racing, at Monza – the fastest circuit in the championship with a record average lap speed of 262.242kmh.

Its home ground for Ferrari, which has not won a GP for almost 16 months, and its fanatical fans – known as the tifosi – will be out in force, but Ricciardo, from Perth, also will get plenty of support because of his Italian origins.

“They've always been very generous to me,” Ricciardo said.

“I'd love to get the opportunity to stand on that brilliant [Monza] podium and find out [the full extent of his popularity with the Italians].

“If we can bag a few points here [in Italy] that would be very good,” he said.

“Monza is a high-speed track, probably not too much to our liking [because of the disadvantage of Red Bull's Renault power unit against the Mercedes factory cars of Rosberg and Hamilton, in particular].

“Singapore and Suzuka are the ones that we are really looking forward to.

“I still expect the Mercedes to be strong at every circuit, so then the question would be if we can be as quick as them.

“For this, both Singapore and Suzuka would be our best shots, and if all goes well we could even try to go for pole and a race win at either of these races.”

Ricciardo is the only driver to have won in F1 this year other than the Mercedes factory pair, but can he be world champion in his first year in a top team?

“I think I can, but it would take more than just winning the next seven races – which would take quite a lot of luck as well,” Ricciardo said.

“I am a bit more than two wins behind Nico, so even if I win two races and he does not finish those two then he would still be in the lead.

“There is a lot of talk about this topic right now, but actually I am not really thinking about any scenario at the moment.

“For me it would be amazing to just go out there and keep winning races.

“Maybe if I am in the same position after the next three or four races, then I would start thinking about the ‘what ifs' – but not for now.

“If the Mercedes [factory] guys would crash into each other at all the upcoming races, then that would impact me a lot and possibly even hand me that chance for the championship on a silver platter.

“But that's not on my mind going into a race weekend … what they are possibly doing to each other.

“The best thing for me is to get my head down and get on with my job and hopefully get enough points to stay in the game.”

Ricciardo has not dwelt on the 18 points he was denied at the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne, where he was disqualified because his car was found to have been pumping its fuel too fast, and whether that might ultimately rob him of the world title.

“I don't think you should think like that but, for sure, if I lose the championship in Abu Dhabi by exactly those 18 points, or less, then it might have a bigger effect on me.

“But then everyone has had a bit of bad luck ... no one has a perfect year. That is part of racing.

“For sure I hate to lose 18 points, but that is done and it is history.”

Ricciardo's victories have come in Canada, Hungary and Belgium – the latter at Spa-Francorchamps, another exceptionally high-speed circuit, but not as fast as Monza.

So how did his underpowered Red Bull win at Spa?

He was helped by Rosberg and Hamilton colliding early in the race, although the former recovered to finish second while Hamilton retired without a point.

But there was more to it than that.

“Our reason for being more competitive at Spa was that we took off a lot of wing – and not everyone else did that,” Ricciardo said.

“That made our straight-line speed more competitive and both [Mercedes-powered] Williams and Mercedes [factory team] had quite some more wing on.

“The last race gave us a bit of hope coming to Italy, but realistically most of the teams will run minimum downforce and we will probably fall behind in terms of the top speed.

“But you never know when the conditions change … and top speed counts less than good strategy.”

Ricciardo's four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, who won the Italian GP among 13 victories last year but is winless this season, has described the deceleration points at Monza as “brutal” and Ricciardo said the first chicane was “the ultimate example”.

“You're coming down to that first chicane at the highest speed an F1 car will reach all year [about 340kmh] and you're braking into one of the tightest corners you'll take all year,” he said.

“And you're doing it with the least amount of downforce you'll have all year, which means the car tends to slide around quite a bit.

“You can't afford to lock a brake, but equally you can't lose time by being too eager on the pedal.

“It demands that you are really focused all the time.”

Meanwhile, Renault has agreed to intensify its efforts to return Red Bull to the top in F1 after having been caught napping by Mercedes at the start of this season.

“We made our life extremely difficult … we'll have to work and integrate properly with the works team,” Renault Sport's F1 manager director Cyril Abiteboul said.

“Our focus and target is to go back to a winning championship position with Red Bull Racing. Full stop.”

Abiteboul said Renault would be allowed to change 48 per cent of its power unit for next season “and we intend to change 48 per cent”.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had demanded that Renault give it greater priority ahead of the manufacturer's customer teams.

Red Bull is recruiting extra staff with expertise in areas it sees as Renault's weaknesses.

Horner said Red Bull would be “working hand-in-hand with Renault rather than independently of Renault”.

The new American team of industrialist Gene Haas, co-owner of a NASCAR team with controversial triple champion Tony Stewart, has confirmed a technical alliance with Ferrari in the lead-up to its entry to F1 in 2016.

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi is back in the cockpit of one of the Caterham cars at Monza after 32-year-old German sports car ace Andre Lotterer's one-off outing for the team in Belgium.

However, Kobayashi is in danger of losing his place to 23-year-old Spaniard Roberto Merhi soon.

Merhi will take part in tonight's first practice sessions at Monza for Caterham, which mid-season was sold by Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes to Swiss and Middle Eastern investors who brought in experienced Romanian team principal Colin Kolles to run it.

Caterham has been in F1 almost four seasons but is yet to score a world championship point by finishing a GP in the top 10.