Daniel Ricciardo says he is going to keep pushing his RB team to find improvements to its 2024 car so he can “kick some ass” at his home race in Australia next weekend.

RB was touted as the most likely team to bridge the gap between the bottom five and top five Formula 1 teams over the winter, after a strong finish to 2023. However, the new car proved troublesome to extract performance from in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and Ricciardo (pictured above with team principal Laurent Mekies) says he intends to be the driving force behind the push for further gains before Melbourne.

“Honestly, some things with the car, like when it comes to producing efficiency and everything, just a few things didn’t quite add up,” Ricciardo said. “Bahrain, I knew that it was more me — like qualifying, I knew I left some time on the table. I left a couple of tenths. But when it kind of plateaus and the others keep improving, it’s also a bit of a sign. So I could feel that that was the limit of the car.

“We did find some things afterwards. But then you’ve got parc ferme. And to be honest, even if we didn’t have parc ferme, it’s probably nothing we can fix in 24 hours. So I’m sure a few things would go back to the factory and come back with a fresh car in Melbourne.

“I’ll obviously put this weekend behind and just push the team hard. (In Jeddah) I stayed quite late to try and help everyone find the issues and it’s just up to me now to keep on ’em. I know they want it as bad as I do. So make sure that we have a good package into Melbourne and then, yeah, let’s say my season will start there and kick some ass.”

Ricciardo is sure the, VCARB 01 has a lot more potential than it’s shown thus far. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images)

Ricciardo says the tough start to the year hasn’t knocked his confidence that RB can have a strong season, as he feels more potential in the car than is currently being seen.

“We found a few things over the course of the weekend. We’re heading into the race always upbeat and optimistic that maybe something happens. But I think it was always going to be an uphill battle. We simply don’t have everything functioning at 100%. So we see a few flaws, honestly, with the car. So we’ve got to get that fixed for the next one.

“The reason I’m staying optimistic is because I know that we had some things wrong. With a good car and everything sorted, I know we can do a lot better. So, a painful three days, but I don’t want it to take any confidence out of us. It hasn’t been the start that we wanted, but it’s race two and Melbourne’s next. So yeah, big push for everyone to get it right and we’ll have a good weekend.”