Horner and Ricciardo confident of upsetting miserable Mercedes

Sport360 staff 17:41 25/08/2014
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  • In with a chance: Team Red Bull celebrate Daniel Ricciardo's (l) victory at the Belgian GP.

    Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the in-fighting at Mercedes is handing Daniel Ricciardo a shot at this season's Formula One world title.

    For the third time this year Ricciardo took full advantage of an on-track Mercedes issue to claim the chequered flag at the Belgian Grand Prix.

    With seven races remaining and 200 points available, including the highly-controversial double points in the final race in Abu Dhabi, the ever-smiling Australian now has a clear chance of championship glory. Ricciardo is currently 64 points behind Nico Rosberg and 35 adrift of Lewis Hamilton after the duo's collision at Spa which resulted in the latter retiring for the third time this season.

    "We've benefited from a get-together between the Mercedes drivers, so it is good to be keeping them honest," said Horner.

    "Spa was a track where we didn't expect to be competitive, yet we managed to win, as in Montreal – two of the most unlikely tracks we would have picked pre-season.

    "All we can do is focus on ourselves and go race by race, but it is remarkable Daniel has won only one less race than Rosberg (three compared to four) this year.

    "He is doing a phenomenal job at the moment and deserved his victory.

    "Everything we see of him is incredibly calm, in control and he is obviously marking himself out as a clear championship contender."

    Ricciardo also vowed to keep on fighting while the title was mathematically a possibility. 

    "It is great," said the beaming Australian. "We are really motivated right now and it has been a really good day for us on a track where we didn't expect to get maximum points.

    "There are still a few races to go. Definitely, while it is still mathematically possible we will keep fighting. To come and steal some points where we were not supposed to is nice.

    "What is important now to look ahead is to capitalise on the circuits we can be strong on – if we can take maximum points at a couple of those it is never over. "I see good things ahead if we can collect maximum points around here.

    "It gives us a bit more hope for the circuits that are going to come later in the season – Singapore and Suzuka, just a couple to mention."


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