Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo says that a third win before the summer break could make him a genuine contender for this year's Formula 1 world championship title.
Currently, Ricciardo is in third place in the drivers standings behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. All three men have won two of the six races sao far in 2018.
However Ricciardo lags behind the others in the points because of poor reliability in some of the early races.
With Red Bull succeeding on tight and twisty street circuits but lacking the raw engine power to battle Mercedes and Ferrari elsewhere, Ricciardo has dismissed his prospects of challenging for the title this season.
However he admits that one more win might change that - even if it only makes him an outside bet.
"It’s not impossible but not really at the forefront of my mind yet," Ricciardo said after winning in Monaco last week.
"I think it’s a natural question after a victory," he conceded. "I think I got asked after China if it means we’re in the title hunt.
"[But] I think Lewis still has a pretty good buffer on me, so we’re still on the outside of that.
"Even if it was, I’m not going to change obviously the way that I’m driving or trying to attack," he insisted. "We’ve got to probably prove on at least one other circuit before the summer break that we can win again.
"Then maybe we’re a nice little outside chance!" he beamed.
Ricciardo will have the opportunity to take that extra victory next weekend in Montreal. It shares some of Monaco's tight and twisty traits, but also has longer straights where his rivals will have the edge in power.
"Montreal will be interesting," he said. "I don’t think we’ll be able to maintain that kind of rhythm [we had in Monaco] on a circuit like Montreal or something.
"It’s more circuit-dependent, but I’m glad they’re bringing the hypersofts again," he added.
After Montreal, the next target for Red Bull must surely be at the Hungaroring on July 29, just before the sport goes on a one month summer break.
Championship leader Hamilton said that Vettel remained his closest title rival, but agreed that the could be no counting out Red Bull this early in the season.
"It is a three-way battle," he said. "[Red Bull] will continue to get stronger through the year.
"It’ll be interesting to see their performance," he added.
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