Ricciardo vows to maximise from early next season

Daniel Ricciardo has high hopes for next season

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Even as Red Bull pushed ahead with their design of RB14 to avoid a slow start next season, there are little issues with cold vibes between drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen as both hunted for championship points, the Hungarian Grand prix being a case in point.
At a press conference during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ricciardo sheepishly admitted the underlying situation and said: "I hope to keep him on my birthday list. We said at the start of this year it would be a good problem to have - if both of us are fighting at the front and having some battles.
"If it's ultimately deciding a world title we would happily run with that challenge. This year we again had high hopes for that. I believe next year we will close the gap.
"Is it enough to fight for a title? I think we can certainly get close but we'll see. I don't want to predict too early. I'm sure we've learned a lot this year and I believe we're going to put in the right work in the winter to start strong. And then that'll be exciting."
Talking about his partner, Ricciardo said: "Max improved this year from last year. I won't say he came a long way because he was always there but he certainly improved and I think next year it's going to be a lot of fun, so looking forward to that. And hopefully we can add a world title to the eight that we have."
Red Bull after a slow start to the season turned the tables in the last few races. And Ricciardo said there's work to be done.
"There have been some great races. Obviously I would love all 20 to be great and not all 20 have been. I will assess the year once it's all settled and then just try to understand what I could have improved. I'm sure there's on-track stuff but also off track.
"I give every year a good crack, but give next year a proper crack. I mean between us all we've got eight world titles, so it's pretty good. We want nine. I've been pretty pleased with the year.