Daniel Ricciardo wants to step on the podium at least once before his career with Red Bull Racing ends after the three Formula 1 races in 2018.
Ever since his dominant performance in Monaco, it has been a torrid time for F1’s smiling assassin. In the 12 races after the win in Monaco, Ricciardo has had five retirements and multiple races where he started from the back due to penalties.
Even though he hasn’t finished any races lower than sixth due to the pace difference, his best result is only fourth in multiple races when teammate Max Verstappen has scored a win and five podiums in the same period.
The points difference can be seen as Verstappen is now a comfortable fifth with 191 points while Ricciardo only has 146 with a total of seven retirements. In fact, the two wins are the only podium finishes he has had this year.
With only three more races to go this year and with Red Bull as well, the Australian wants to end it on a high as the focus is to secure at least one win or a podium finish in the next three rounds before setting off with Renault from 2019.
The Australian put up a brave face after yet another retirement in the US GP where he was running well in fourth and looked good for a podium finish until a battery failure – a repeat of what happened in Bahrain – stopped his run.
“I don’t know, some form of luck – a bad type of luck is responsible for a lot of it,” said Ricciardo to the media. “It is something that I had in Bahrain it seems, so I had this before which gets frustrating.
“I mean a lot of times this year I just feel like things are out of my control but I’ll keep trying. It is a shame because I have only got few more races left with Red Bull and I want to have more highs than just this.
“I want to celebrate with the team at least one more time and be on the time and enjoy that feeling but at the moment, we are running out of races, so it is a bit tough to take it at the moment.”
Team boss Christian Horner could do nothing but put in a verbal support for Ricciardo. Post race, he revealed the extent of the Australian’s frustration where he had punched a hole in his room. He had already shown his middle finger towards his car trackside.