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Ricciardo determined to keep his focus on F1

Daniel Ricciardo has been linked to drives at Le Mans and NASCAR in the past, but he insistes he only has eyes for Formula 1 right now.

The Australian added that he wasn't tempted to follow Fernando Alonso's example and compete in the Indianapolis 500.

“I would not want to miss Monaco," he said. "Fernando is missing a good one. But then again if you are not fighting at the front it probably would be a long race around there.

"I'd take Daytona 500 over Indy," he continued. "Indy kind of scares me actually. But it is cool that he is doing it. I think personally he has picked a very good time to do it."

As for the prospect of following his compatriot Mark Webber to Le Mans, Ricciardo said that was a long way off.

"Probably more at the tail end of my F1 career I would be looking more at my options," he commented. "Now I want a faster Formula 1 car as opposed to a fast IndyCar."

Ricciardo: Hardly any chance of Red Bull catching up with rivals

Certainly right now his focus is on the next Grand Prix in Russia.

"Now that we’ve been to the track a few times I think the tarmac will be better," he said of the Sochi circuit.

"It’s a bit like Austin in the first few years, when it took a while to bed in.

"I expect this year for the track to be grippy and with these cars it should be quite fast. I would say it’s going to be more enjoyable than it has been so I’m looking forward to that.

"It’s also a pretty busy track. There is not much room to rest. There is a long straight but other than that there is quite a bit going on. It keeps you thinking.

"Some parts of the track remind me a bit of India. Kind of flat and you can take the kerbs quite easily. There are also a lot of third- and fourth-gear corners. The layout has definitely grown on me since we started racing there.

"We’re also going there a bit later this year so there is a chance of it being a bit warmer than in previous years. It’s a pretty cool place."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.