Daniel Ricciardo is on the rise

Daniel Ric­cia­rdo has all but guar­an­teed his reten­tion at Toro Rosso in 2013. At the same time, he has gone a long way toward plac­ing him­self on top of the pile to join Red Bull when a vacancy presumably arises the fol­low­ing season.

The Australian’s per­for­mances since the mid-season break have been hard to miss. He has scored points in three of the past four races, after scor­ing just once throughout the first eleven.

Ninth place in Bel­gium gave Ricciardo his first points since fin­sh­ing in the same posi­tion on home soil in the first race of the season.

He was des­per­ately unfor­tu­nate to miss out on a point in Italy, run­ning out of fuel at the final corner.

But Ricciardo is not just turning heads by winning points; it’s about the calibre of those he has beaten in recent events.

The West Aus­tralian fended off com­pa­triot Mark Web­ber during the final laps in Singapore to fin­ish ninth, while in Japan, he held his nerve to secure the final point ahead of seven time cham­pion Michael Schumacher.

Ric­cia­rdo has been out­placed by teammate Jean-Eric Vergne just once since Spain, despite the Frenchman tout­ing him­self as “no worse than Web­ber” prior to the season.

It is now evi­dent that Ricciardo’s mid-2011 debut is bar­ing fruit. While his time at HRT was, at first, dis­missed as a con­fi­dence killer, his pre­vi­ous knowl­edge of tracks such as Bel­gium, Italy, Sin­ga­pore and Japan has proven invaluable.

Some­thing crazy would have to hap­pen for Ric­cia­rdo not to be retained next sea­son, though as we saw last year, reg­u­lar points fin­ishes from Jaime Alguer­suari were not enough.

Should he line up on the grid in Mel­bourne next sea­son, Ric­cia­rod will have the oppor­tu­nity to pro­pel him­self into con­tention for a seat at the senior outfit.

Sebas­t­ian Vet­tel has been widely linked to a seat at Fer­rari in 2014, and in the event that this doesn’t hap­pen, Mark Web­ber has also been men­tioned, hav­ing turned down an offer to join the Ital­ian team next season.

If either of the two departs, Red Bull would be crazy not to con­sider Ric­cia­rdo ahead of any­body else. His displays in recent races suggest a very bright future – one that the organ­i­sa­tion would surely be unwill­ing to let slip through their clutches.

For now, Korea beck­ons, and another strong out­ing would surely prompt a con­tract offer from Toro Rosso for 2013. Daniel Ric­cia­rdo is on the rise.