Ricciardo: drivers make the difference

Toro Rosso rookie driver Daniel Ricciardo says he backs himself to do well at his first Monaco Grand Prix.

The Australian driver has an excellent record at this circuit in junior categories and believes it to be a track where the driver dominates performance rather than the car. Having failed to score since the opening race of the year Ricciardo believes Monaco is a place where he and Toro Rosso have an opportunity to get into the top ten.

“You don’t want to go on too much longer without scoring and I think this is the best place for me to get back on the board and, who knows, I’m not counting out a podium,” he said. “If the driver can make a difference, I believe in myself, that I can get the Toro Rosso further up the grid and have an awesome weekend.”

Ricciardo’s two outings at Monaco, driving in the grand prix-supporting World Series by Renault, have resulted in victories from pole position. Having also driven in FP1 here last year for Toro Rosso, he acknowledges that the proposition is slightly different in an F1 car but says the basic facts remain unchanged and that this is a track where car performance is less critical than it is elsewhere.

“I’m counting on that to be the case,” he added. “Even if you don’t have the fastest car here you can still do a very good race, as drivers in the past have proven. [Pastor] Maldonado last year was running well in the top ten and I don’t think his car was good enough for that. It doesn’t always rely on having the best setup either, and I like that as well. You can make the difference.”