- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Daniel Ricciardo reckons he can dare to dream of another Formula One triumph after securing a place on the front row of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix.
Second place on the Italian Grand Prix grid was Ricciardo’s best qualifying performance since he took pole in Mexico for Red Bull in 2018 with then-teammate Max Verstappen alongside.
Verstappen, now leading the world championship, will be on pole this time.
McLaren haven’t won a race since 2012 – a wait of more than 3,200 days and counting – but they came close at Monza last year when Carlos Sainz, now at Ferrari, finished second to AlphaTauri’s surprise winner Pierre Gasly.
“I’ll probably dream a little bit about it tonight but I’m ready to make that a reality for sure,” Ricciardo said, of the possibility of taking his first win for three years.
“For McLaren, it’s been a long time, for me it’s been a long time. So it’s definitely refreshing to be back up here. We’re close.
“A few things might have to swing in our favour tomorrow but we’ll certainly put ourselves in the fight, in the hunt. Very excited to get going with that and try to make some good stuff happen.”
Ricciardo had qualified fifth for Saturday’s sprint race, and finished third on track but moved up to second for Sunday’s grid because winner Valtteri Bottas will start at the back due to engine penalties.
The Australian had said after Friday qualifying for the sprint that he felt “internal rage” at being only 0.006 seconds behind teammate Lando Norris and 0.029 slower than Verstappen in third.
With Norris third on the grid for Sunday and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton fourth for Mercedes, Ricciardo smiled that he had “kept the room in one piece”.
“I used some of that today and I will use the rest of it tomorrow,” he laughed when reminded about the anger.
“I’m hungry. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up in this position. I just want to be back here and never leave.”
© AAP
Looking for great odds on racing and sport? Get into the action with PlayUp today. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.