Ricciardo Has no idea what is next for him

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo says he currently has no idea what is in store for him in 2011 despite his impressive performance in this week's Formula 1 rookie tests in Abu Dhabi. The Red Bull reserve was on top by a comfortable margin throughout the two days of testing, and ended up beating Sebastian Vettel's grand prix pole time by over a second – although track conditions had improved since the race weekend.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he knew what his next step would be, Ricciardo said he had spoken to Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko as soon as the test finished, but that there was no news yet.

"I actually spoke to him after the last run, just to inform him of how it all went," said Ricciardo.

"And I asked him if he's got any news for me. But he genuinely said nothing has come up yet, there's nothing even close to being confirmed.

"In a way it would be nice to know something now, but it's not really under my control. The fact that he was being honest with me and telling me just for now to go back home and relax for a bit is not too bad.

"I can't really stress about something that could or won't be happening, so I'll just sit tight for now."

"If I was 1.2s faster they'd do a contract tomorrow…" Ricciardo joked. "The circuit obviously has improved, how much? It's hard to say.

"Even from Tuesday it's already improved, it was a fair chunk faster [on Wednesday] for me and for everyone.

"It was good fun to compare with Sebastian on the data and to see I was faster in all the places was quite cool – even though I know it's not a fair comparison."

[Editor's Note: Was the track better? Perhaps, or was it just another tricks many teams use by removing all the ballast from the car so the driver sets spectacular times and a potential sponsors gets excited and signs on the dotted line? It's one of the oldest tricks in racing.]