Daniel Ricciardo points out “big boy decisions” evolving RB from ‘junior’ status

Daniel Ricciardo is adamant that RB are no longer merely a junior team.

They have renamed and rebranded from AlphaTauri, who Ricciardo initially joined midway through last season, who were a sister team of Red Bull.

And although the link to Red Bull remains, Ricciardo points at evidence to prove RB are a major F1 player in their own right.

“It does feel different, and I think it's easy to kind of rebrand it and say we’ve got a new look and with this and that, but your actions have to follow,” he said.

Ex-Ferrari chief Laurent Mekies took over as team principal after Franz Tost’s retirement at the end of last year.

Peter Bayer became CEO, Alan Permane became the racing director and Tim Goss will join as chief technical officer soon, in major moves to elevate the RB team.

“I think Laurent, Peter, Alan, a lot of guys that have come in have done that,” Ricciardo said.

“It's not that what was happening in the past with Franz, in that example, wasn't the right thing, but a change sometimes is good.

“You bring in new ideas. They've all spent time in other teams, organisations, and yeah, it's just a new way of looking at things.

“I think that in itself and their intentions and the way they go about it has made people kind of stand up and say, alright, this isn't a junior team anymore.”

Ricciardo insisted: “We're making big boy decisions, and we're taking risks and we're setting targets and high targets, and ones that we realistically think that we can attain.

“So, it's cool. It's cool to see it. I'm probably too, in a way, honest in myself that if it felt like a junior team still, I wouldn't feel comfortable here. I'm 35 now.

“So, I think I would feel a bit out of place, and I certainly don't, so I think that's also a good way to probably comprehend it.”

But, Ricciardo’s future is uncertain.

He missed out on a midseason promotion to Red Bull, who opted to keep faith in the under-pressure Sergio Perez.

Ricciardo is out of contract with RB at the end of this season and hasn’t yet been signed up to a new one.

In the second half of this F1 season, the veteran Aussie driver has plenty to prove to keep his seat on the grid.