• Toro Rosso news

Ricciardo hopes for Monaco 'miracle'

Daniel Ricciardo only finished 13th in Barcelona © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Drivers:
• Daniel Ricciardo

• Teams:
• Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo says he is hoping to pull off "a bit of a miracle" in Monaco after being encouraged by Pastor Maldonado's victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Toro Rosso has proven to be slightly off the pace this season, with the team having only scored six points so far. Neither Ricciardo nor his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne finished in the top ten in Spain, but Williams - who Toro Rosso finished above in 2011 - won the race with Maldonado. Looking forward to Monaco in his Toro Rosso blog, Ricciardo said that he was hoping to follow Maldonado's lead.

"That's Spain done and dusted and now we can look forward to Monaco, which is obviously a very special place," Ricciardo said. "I really enjoy racing there, as I really love street circuits. I've only ever driven proper street tracks at Macau and Monaco but I loved them from the first moment I drove them. To race on those bumpy, slippery roads with the walls being so close is fantastic. There's so much going on for a driver to contend with. There's no room for error.

"For me, 2010 was the best. It was my first year in Monaco and I won in Formula Renault 3.5. Then a couple of hours later Mark won the grand prix, so it was like the perfect Aussie weekend. I have great memories of that; it was a lot of fun. So I'm hoping for a bit of a repeat next week. I think Pastor pulled off a bit of a miracle in Barcelona and I'm hoping to do something like that in Monaco."

Ricciardo added that he felt the result in Spain meant Force India was the team that Toro Rosso needs to focus on beating.

"I can't believe that a quarter of the season is gone already; it still feels like early days. However, there's still a long way to go and things will keep changing as the season goes on. It's a very unpredictable season and it's really hard to know what will happen from race to race. We've had five different winners in five races and that's just incredible. I think that will be the shape of the rest of the season.

"Pastor's win in Barcelona is the perfect example of that unpredictability. Williams were very strong there and judging by the race in Barcelona I think Williams and Sauber are a step in front of us, which means that Force India are now probably our closest rivals."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.