It would be difficult to find anyone in the Formula One paddock who thinks Daniel Ricciardo is not ready to win a world championship.
The man who dubbed himself "the peasant's world champion" of 2016 -- after finishing as best of the rest behind the Mercedes drivers in 2014 and 2016 -- has enjoyed a remarkable rise since stepping up to the Red Bull team three years ago. Though Max Verstappen earned plaudits last year for his exciting racecraft and aggressive approach to overtaking, the teenage Red Bull driver is a raw talent with plenty to learn. Ricciardo is as close to the full package as you will find on the grid.
In 2016 he overcame two major setbacks to finish as most pundits' driver of the year, displaying the sort of mental fortitude needed to win a championship in Formula One. When he lines up on the grid in Australia for this weekend's 2017 curtain-raiser he will carry the expectations of a nation on his back -- despite a proud motorsport heritage and two popular drivers in the sport's recent history, no Australian has won a championship since Alan Jones in 1980.
Australia may have finally found the man to end that wait. Though renowned for his infectious personality and a big, toothy grin, Ricciardo possesses a steely determination and unshakable confidence which has roots in the nature of his journey from Perth to Formula One -- one which started as an awestruck child mesmerised by the engine noise of a bygone era.
"The first race I ever went to Adelaide 1993," Ricciardo tells ESPN. "I was obviously still young but the noise is the first thing you remember. I remember going to Melbourne a few years later and from our hotel room you could hear the cars at Friday practice and I was like 'Dad, let's frickin' go to the track already, can you hear the noise?!' Noise was the first association with it and that [sound of] neooowwwwwnnnnn, moving the neck really fast..."
Ricciardo's early years of watching Formula One coincided with a period which saw little representation from his homeland. Between 1995 and 2002 there were no drivers from Australia on the grid. But that didn't dampen his spirits -- in fact, it had such little impact on him, he smiles and shrugs when asked about it.
"At that age I didn't really think about it. It didn't really cross my mind until [Mark] Webber got in and then I was like 'oh... this is cool'! So I didn't think about it. Formula One was just cool, I loved racing, all types of racing, but from a young age Formula One was the noise and everything and that's what I was drawn to. I already knew when I was younger, the coolest guys are in F1... not that NASCAR drivers aren't cool but that was always what I had in my head!"
Australia's wait for a driver would end in thrilling fashion in 2002. Webber, making his debut for minnows Minardi at his home race, would endure a chaotic race which saw him rise to fifth (in the days when only the top six received points) in the closing stages, cheered on by a frenzied home crowd with a new local favourite.
Ricciardo, by this point a 13-year-old excelling in the karting ranks who made it to every other Albert Park race, was there to see it all.
"The grandstands were crazy," he recalls, smiling. "I think the last few laps he had a crazy battle on his hands with Salo, and then he defended and Salo made a mistake and the crowd cheered again. I felt like everyone was super proud to be Australian and proud that we had an Aussie back in Formula One.
"But just as much as that people were excited to see a good underdog story -- a Minardi coming fifth, they were just as excited for that as they were for the Australian, kind of thing. I obviously didn't know Mark then and was very, very early in my racing career but it was cool to see him do his thing."
Five years later, having shown promise in the fledgling years of his single-seater career, a teenage Ricciardo was blazing his own trail towards Formula One. As with anyone who wants to carve out a career in motorsport's premier series, a move to Europe was an essential part of that journey. For Ricciardo, there was little motivation to leave Australia and see the world, just a burning desire to emulate what he had seen Webber and others do by making it to Formula One. His plans came together in early 2007 and he was on a plane several weeks later -- on February 2, a date he remembers to this day -- to take the next step up the motor racing ladder.
"The racing was the only thing that made me do it. I wasn't interested in travelling, I didn't want to leave home, I didn't want to live alone... I really wasn't very independent! I was like 'I really hope I do well in this racing thing' because when I wasn't racing I wasn't sure what the hell I was going to do."
It would be a big change, too: from the golden beaches of vibrant Perth to little Vidigulfo in Italy, just south of Milan and a 45 minute drive from the Monza circuit.
"Culturally there was a big difference, especially where I was. I lived in a small town with a population of about 1,000 people, it was a little farm town, two restaurants ... there was nothing there so for me it was like going back in time! And my Italian sucked, I didn't really speak the language, and there was no internet..."
Ricciardo does Vidigulfo a small disservice -- its population is closer to 4,000 -- but the quaint surroundings of the Italian town would be the perfect place to prepare, distraction-free, for racing in Europe. That year he would feature in Formula Renault 2.0 Italy, a series which would bring him into contact with other people he wanted to emulate -- Red Bull junior drivers.
"I found a gym close by and those were my days -- waking up, training, eating, training, going to sleep. Then eventually I made some friends, like [New Zealand's] Brendon Hartley, who was racing in the same series that year so I could relate to him, he was from the same part of the world and a Red Bull driver at the time so he was someone I was trying to aspire to.
"I made a few friends and that helped, you then share stories ... [Hartley] lived in east Germany somewhere and he said it was tough. You can kind of help each other get through it."
At this time, Red Bull was an unknown quantity in motorsport. It had an expanding pool of junior drivers but two uncompetitive teams in Formula One and many still saw the Austrian company as a glorified energy drinks brand. But to young drivers like Ricciardo it represented not only the chance of significant financial backing but also competitive seats in various series' on the ladder up to F1.
Though Dietrich Mateschitz was the man responsible for bringing the Red Bull brand into motor racing, it was the fiery Helmut Marko who oversaw the pool of young talent, as he still does today. Seventeen-year-old Ricciardo, whose solid results in 2.0 Italy behind the likes of Hartley and Jaime Alguersuari had put him on Red Bull's radar, was determined to make an introduction to the Austrian at his first opportunity. That chance came at the 2007 Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
"I had scored a paddock pass to the grand prix, I think it was just for like the Friday. My intention was to try and meet this crazy Doctor Marko guy. I didn't know who he was, what he looked like -- I knew who he was but not what he looked like and that. I remember someone pointed him out and said 'go introduce yourself', and I was like 's---!'"
"I went to say hi and was super intimidated. I also met Mark Webber for the first time properly that weekend as well. That was a pretty interesting experience and then two months later I was doing the Red Bull Junior test and Helmut was there and I got to know him a little better that day. It's part of growing up as well, putting yourself out there and stepping out of the little comfort zone you live in."
By 2008, a year after taking the plunge and moving to Europe, Ricciardo was a Red Bull junior driver. Though it eased one type of pressure, it created another in a high-stakes environment overseen by the "crazy doctor" he'd met at Monza.
"To get the Red Bull junior drive was like a massive pressure off... I didn't have to go around asking mum and dad to sell their house or ask friends for funding. The instant feeling was 'oh wow, amazing'. But then once you start getting into it and you have a non-competitive weekend, sure enough [the phone] says 'Dr Marko ringing' and you're like f---..."
When asked if those were the phone calls you didn't want to leave for more than a couple of rings, he laughs and says: "If you don't answer he's like 'what are you doing?' and you're there like '[starts pretend panting] 'I was training, I was training Dr Marko, honest!"
"That was a sort of pressure. For me some phone calls weren't the best but at the same time it made me realise this is what it is, we are trying to get to the top of something and in any business or any sport it is similar. It was one of those things that made me grow up and mature, I think, and also made me appreciate what I had. When I didn't race well he made me realise that and I thought 'Ok, he's got a point, just make sure you learn'."
Learn he did, and quickly too. After winning the British Formula 3 Championship, disappointment followed in 2010, narrowly missing out on the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. He was on course to win the following year's edition until Red Bull plucked him from the series mid-way through the season and placed him in a seat at HRT -- an indication of the huge regard Red Bull had for the Australian and its unwillingness to lose him to another team or programme.
Two full seasons at Toro Rosso followed before he beat Jean-Eric Vergne to a seat at Red Bull -- Webber's seat, no less -- alongside four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, at the time the most successful driver of the modern era and the poster boy of the Red Bull driver programme.
It was sink-or-swim time for Ricciardo and few (if anyone) expected him to beat Vettel, who had blown Webber out of the water in the years following their tense 2010 showdown. Not only did Ricciardo beat him, he won three races, establishing himself as one of the sport's top drivers and probably helping ease Vettel's decision to leave Red Bull for Ferrari at the end of their first year together.
Ricciardo puts his successful debut season with Red Bull down to the appreciation he gained "for what he had" in the first years as a junior driver and the relaxed attitude it had given him away from the car.
"I'm sure for all of us it's a dream to be in Formula One, so when you're here it's like, 's--- I'm really here'. So it can be overwhelming but you've just got to say, OK, you're here but it didn't happen overnight, I worked hard to get here. It's just having that belief and not taking things too seriously, like sure I do when I race, but when I don't I'm just like 'whatever, it's fun'. The pressure is a chance to show off I guess... and I like that!"
Ricciardo's growth as a driver has been clear to see in the years since joining Red Bull. He endured a difficult 2015 with an uncompetitive car -- a season he had entered fully expecting a title tilt -- before withstanding the rise of Verstappen in 2016.
Most impressive was how he bounced back from two early-season setbacks which could have easily derailed his season or knocked his faith in the team. Leading in Spain after the Mercedes drivers collided, he lost the race due to a pit stop call which turned out to be the wrong one. To add insult to injury, Verstappen claimed the race win on an alternate strategy. Then came Monaco.
Having beaten the Mercedes drivers to a superb maiden pole position, rain at the start of the race threatened to shake up proceedings. But Ricciardo still looked in control until the switch to slick tyres. When he entered the Red Bull pit stop on their command, the tyres were not ready, and he emerged behind Lewis Hamilton, where he would stay until they took the chequered flag. He cut an angry figure on the podium and later claimed he had been "screwed" again by his team, though Ricciardo soon calmed himself down and used the double heartbreak to his benefit.
Laughing in reference to what he had just said about a laid back attitude, he says: "I took that one seriously! That was simple. Once the emotion came out of the equation the positive was I'd got the first pole position of my career in what we still believe was an inferior package.
"Albeit bar the pit stop, I'd done everything I could to win that race. I was good in the wet and did everything I could. OK, I didn't get the big trophy, but I was the driver to beat all weekend. I took a lot of pride in that. Also it's Monaco, it's a driver's track, I just tried to take the confidence with me."
The confidence he took with him was clear to see after Monaco, and his performances later in the season continued to turn heads. He went on to claim a much deserved win in Malaysia, which came after a thrilling and fair wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen, but could easily have finished the year with three to his name.
Webber, who may well have given Australia its overdue title in 2010 were it not for a spin in South Korea or a strategy error in Abu Dhabi, thinks his end-of-season form proved he is ready to join that pantheon of drivers who have won it all.
When asked if Ricciardo is ready to win a world championship, Webber told ESPN: "Totally, absolutely no doubt about it. He's absolutely ready, he showed brilliant composure last year, some phenomenal drives and very, very little mistakes and that's what we've come to expect from him now.
"It's what you expect from an absolute professional operating at a high, high level and he can go wheel-to-wheel with anyone. He's got a lot of strings in his bow now... He's right in a window, right age, and he just needs the car."
Webber thinks part of Ricciardo's impressive 2016 was due to the rise of teenage Verstappen, whose aggressive approach to overtaking literally rewrote the F1 rulebook in just his second season.
"That's natural. You learn more about yourself when you get tested a bit more, and that will happen a bit more between the pair of them. It's normal... a healthy boxing match where you get more out of each other. That drives the team on even better, too. When you've got an absolutely, totally, totally clear guy whose half a second, six tenths down the road, it's difficult for the team to get more out of the car and get more out of each other. They just need the car to challenge for the title, now..."
Whether or not Red Bull and Renault's 2017 packages align to give him that chance remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure -- Ricciardo is ready and waiting.