Ricciardo looking for a change of Brazilian fortune

Daniel Ricciardo is hoping for a breakthrough performance in this year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Previous visits to Sao Paulo haven't quite gone according to plan for the Australian. He finished in eight place last year - which is actually his best result to date in Brazil.

He was eleventh the year before that, and retired from the race in 2014 during his first season at Red Bull. Clearly he feels he has something to prove here.

"I’m positive I can get a good result there," he insisted. "But as of yet I haven’t really had a stand out race in Brazil. Hopefully that will change this year.

Last year's race was in the wet, and Ricciardo says he wouldn't mind some more help from the elements again this year.

"Last year in the wet was fun. I wouldn’t mind some more rain this year as I know I could do better."

He could be in luck, with long range weather forecasts currently predicting showers for race day.

Verstappen hopes for some help from the skies in Brazil

But regardless of the weather, Ricciardo is determined to enjoy himself next weekend.

“I really like South America in general so I’m always excited about the Brazilian GP," he said.

“The circuit itself isn’t what I typically look for in a track. It doesn’t have any notable high speed corners which I usually really enjoy.

"It is quite slow and short which isn’t that exciting, [but] that doesn’t mean I will try any less for a strong result.

“The fans in Brazil are some of the loudest, lots of air horns and trumpets and a general carnival vibe," he continued.

"The area of town where the track is located is quite authentic so you get lots of local fans coming out to watch the race. It’s a good one with real soul and passion!:

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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.