|
As it is, the Red Bull driver will start
Sunday's Italian Grand Prix near the back of the grid for the
second year running but there is still plenty of local love for
the Australian with Italian ancestry.
"The Italians are nuts in all the right ways," he told reporters
at Monza.
"It's funny, but even now that I'm signed for the next two
years, they are like 'Hey, vieni a Ferrari (come to Ferrari)'.
I'm, like, 'I don't know if you guys saw, but..."
Ricciardo is joining Renault next season in a move that dropped
like a bombshell in Formula One just before the August break.
Before that, he had been linked in media speculation to glamour
team Ferrari and champions Mercedes but neither expressed any
interest in pairing him with their title contenders.
Sebastian Vettel has a contract with Ferrari to the end of 2020
while fellow four times world champion Lewis Hamilton recently
renewed his deal at Mercedes.
"I feel like if the fans voted, things would probably be
different," said the Australian.
"I guess they (the Italian Ferrari fans) still want some of my
Italian blood in one of their Italian cars. But they're cool.
They're full on but in a friendly way."
Ricciardo, who said he arrived in Monza a day early just because
he wanted pizza, started 16th in Monza last season due to engine
penalties and finished fourth. He had qualified in third place.
This time he will have more penalties with Red Bull eager to
take up the latest Renault upgrades and wanting to avoid any
grid drop at the next race in Singapore where they have a chance
of winning.
"Its likely I'll have another one at some point," said
Ricciardo. "If we could get from Singapore through without any
penalties then that would be above target for now."
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg has a 10-place drop imposed after he
caused a crash at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, which means
Ricciardo might not be right at the back on Sunday. Despite
that, he was still hoping to make the podium.
"The podium looks so good here. I'm hoping for some crazy race
that gets me on the podium," he said.
"I did Eau Rouge (at Spa) without a rear wing on lap one (after
a collision) so I think we're just going to take the rear wing
off (here)," he joked.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
