» Ricciardo ready to tackle F1, says team boss

With Mark Webber potentially just a single season away from F1 retirement, Australia’s next F1 hope, Daniel Ricciardo, is more than ready to enter the top flight of motorsport, according to his current team boss.

Last year’s British Formula 3 champion – who also serves as Red Bull’s reserve driver this season – joined the Renault World Series championship, just losing out on the title to Mikhail Aleshin in the final round last weekend.

Despite Aleshin’s prize being a test drive with the Renault F1 squad, Ricciardo’s team boss, Simon Abadi, believes the Perth-born driver is more than ready to move into F1.

“We’re all convinced that not only will he get into F1, but above all he’ll win there. It couldn’t be otherwise,” Abadi said.

The Red Bull-backed Ricciardo is most likely to move to the GP2 championship next season, but will also have another outing with Red Bull Racing during the young driver test session at Abu Dhabi in late November.

[Original image via Sutton Images]