When Red Bull came to signing Mark Webber’s replacement for this season, they effectively had three choices: Kimi Raikkonen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo had a reputation for being quick over one lap but there were uncertainties about his overall race pace.
But there was also a sense the team could do without the driver in fighting of seasons past.
The smiling Australian seemed the perfect fit, with the hierarchy’s thinking being that were the exercise to fail, he could be replaced by a bigger name next season.
The manner in which the 24-year-old has slotted into the team, capped by his first victory at Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, has surprised even his staunchest allies at Red Bull.
Even before that first victory, team principal Christian Horner had said: “Daniel has been a real surprise this year. We knew he was quick, we just didn’t realise how quick. And he is so cool as well.”
His statistics are astonishing.
He has eclipsed team-mate Sebastian Vettel in five of the seven qualifying sessions this season and unthinkably could have been nearly level with Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings had things not gone awry in Australia and Malaysia.
Melbourne had appeared to be a dream start to his Red Bull career as he finished runner-up only to be denied in post-race scrutineering because of the team flouting the fuel flow regulations.
In Sepang, there were all manner of gremlins, including a woeful pitstop, and he eventually retired from the race.
Montreal has more than made amends with a drive of immense timing and it has to be said good fortune after the malaise of the initially front-running Mercedes.
Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg suffered simultaneous high-voltage control electronics failures, which removed the power unit’s ability to switch power from the car’s battery to the motor generator unit, effectively denying them 160bhp.
But that is to take nothing away from Ricciardo, who had ensured that he rather than Vettel or even Sergio Perez was the driver in place to slide past Rosberg with just two laps remaining.
Remember the Australian had only qualified in sixth place – his refreshing critique of his effort in Q3 being “a s***house” – but he got the jump on his team-mate at the second round of pitstops despite Vettel boasting the advantage of pitting first and in front.
A slow out lap proved Vettel’s undoing while a blistering in lap for Ricciardo ensured he came out in front of his far more experienced team-mate.
But there was still Perez to painstakingly track down, which he finally did to good effect giving him enough time to reel in a faltering Rosberg to bring a close to a Canadian GP that seemingly never fails to delight.
In Bahrain and China, he complained over the race radio that Vettel was holding him up, and the team’s No1 driver was in no uncertain terms told to make way for a quicker Ricciardo.
Such temerity could and probably did irk Vettel but Ricciardo has not allowed the driver politics of season’s past to rear its ugly head by simply smiling and shrugging off questions on the matter.
It was telling how warmly Vettel hugged the younger man in parc fermé but, much as the friendship has fissured at Mercedes, one suspects that should Ricciardo continue in this vein, Vettel might be less welcoming in the friendship stakes.
Whatever the case, it has been a remarkable turnaround for Ricciardo. He took two-and-a-half seasons (two with Toro Rosso and a stint with Hispania) to prove he was worth taking the risk on at Red Bull, albeit on a salary that is a fraction of Vettel’s.
Vettel had previously been Red Bull driver academy’s only true success story.
Ricciardo is another.
For all Mercedes’ electronics gremlins in Canada, it would take a gargantuan demise in reliability for Hamilton and Rosberg to not be the sole men vying for the world title in the ensuing races.
But Ricciardo has put himself in the frame with a truly refreshing win.
