Daniel Ricciardo has made a bold claim regarding 2014, saying he could have actually competed for and won the world championship.
Ricciardo’s roadblock that season was the resurgent Mercedes, who won all but three races in 2014. It ushered in the era of Mercedes, and since then, Ricciardo hasn’t come close to winning a title.
That season saw the Australian finish 71 points ahead of then-Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel. The current McLaren driver believes that if he had a car on the level of Mercedes’ that year, he could have gone all the way.
Ricciardo made a bold claim regarding 2014, and said that it was a possibility that he could have been world champion that year.
As quoted by GP Fans, when asked he thinks he should have had a title by now, Ricciardo said, “I say yes, but I don’t want to come from a bitter standpoint where I am like ‘Dammit, I should have had this, why don’t I have the big trophy.’
“I don’t come at it from that angle. I go back to 2014 and in my head, my belief is yeah, I could have won the world title that year, if we had the means to do so.
“I think for me to win three races when Mercedes were so quick, I am like ok, I believe that in equal equipment I was the guy to beat that year.
“There are years that have gone where if everyone had equal equipment, I believe I was on a level which would have got me a world title.”
Still optimistic
Ricciardo also revealed that he is still very much focused on winning a championship, no matter what happens.
“There was a time I was a little bit bitter, like ‘I should have had a title by now’ and this sucks, why don’t I and wrong place, wrong time or this or that,” he continued.
“But maybe that is the growth in me, the maturity where I don’t think that anymore.
“I am still here because I believe I can win a title and I want to win a title but I am at peace with whatever happens. As long as I can just go out and leave it all on the track, I will get fulfilment,” he concluded.