Ricciardo hoping to deliver in home Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo is hoping he can give the home fans something to cheer about when the Formula 1 season begins this weekend in Melbourne.

But he admits that he’s expecting a tough race, with both Mercedes and Ferrari having impressed in pre-season testing.

Ricciardo insists he doesn’t feel the pressure of delivering for his raucous support, but instead they drive him on to higher levels of performance.

The 26-year-old ran over Seafarers Bridge in Melbourne to promote this year’s Wings for Life World Run, which takes place on 8 May.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

“Expectations for the weekend, hopefully a fun race. Where it puts us on track I don’t really know yet, I think Mercedes and Ferrari are going to be covering the top four positions so hopefully somewhere close behind that, but to have a good race, be competitive, give the crowd something to cheers for.

“Testing went well, we were in Barcelona for a couple of weeks throughout February and we did a lot of laps, I think it went well for us, we still want to be quicker but reliability and the basics were all there for us, I got enough laps in to feel confident as well with the car and myself so I’m certainly ready to go.

“The home crowd, pressure or whatever, I think it’s cool. I don’t think it’s a hindrance, it can’t really be because everyone’s cheering for you and it’s all positive so when you’re in the car, now it’s time to perform in front of everyone.

“I have to be a little bit more selective where I go if I want to have a quiet evening, my face is plastered around a few billboards here and there. I don’t really get a chance to venture out much over race weeks so it’s normally early nights.

“New qualifying system should be pretty cool, obviously we’re going to test it out in a few days time. I think it will create a bit more pressure not only on the drivers but the teams to send us out on track at the right time, make sure we get a lap in before the elimination so hopefully it creates even more excitement.

“Message for my fans would be have a good weekend, enjoy yourselves, enjoy the race, hopefully we can all put on a good show, if things work tremendously well and I’m on the podium then I’m sure you’ll hear something happening on Sunday night! If not enjoy yourself and have a drink for me!

“It’s the third year of the Wings For Life World Run, it’s on Sunday 8th May in Hawthorn East starting at 9pm here, obviously various times across the world but everyone’s going to be running at the same time, last year was over 100,000 participants and it’s for a great cause, 100 percent of the registration fee goes towards helping find a cure for spinal cord injury, so get amongst it, run, run your little bum off and get going!”

Report by Reuters/OmniSport