Daniel Ricciardo has labelled his performance across the entire Monaco Grand Prix weekend as the best of his Formula One career.
Ricciardo dominated the whole weekend in Monaco, topping the three practice sessions and claiming pole position. The Australian suffered a loss of power in the early stages of the race -- costing him 160hp -- but managed to hold on to the lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel despite being 20km/h slower on the straights.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has heaped praise on Ricciardo's performance in Monaco and compared it to Michael Schumacher's famous 1994 Spanish Grand Prix drive to second, where the German's car was stuck in fifth gear. Ricciardo's win in Monaco is his second of the season -- moving him level with Vettel and Lewis Hamilton with two wins apiece for the season -- and while it didn't have the same action and entertainment of his win in China, he looks back it as the most satisfying of his career.
"I think it was definitely my best weekend and the most satisfying,'' Ricciardo replied when asked if his win in Monaco was his most satisfying. "Right now, there's still a lot to process but as I said, once it all settles I think yeah, I could probably say that. You know the race itself... it's a different race to a China. China obviously got everything going and got the adrenalin going and whatnot but as a whole, this is probably the best weekend of my career.''
Ricciardo now sits in third place in the championship, 38 points behind Hamilton. Despite dominating in Monaco, the Red Bull driver refused to get carried away when asked whether he's a realistic contender for this year's title by stating Red Bull had to perform and prove itself on different types of circuits first.
"I think I got asked after China if it means we're in the title hunt. We're still... I think Lewis still has a pretty good buffer on me, so we're still on the outside of that. It's not impossible but not really at the forefront of my mind yet. But, even if it was, I'm not going to change obviously the way that I'm driving or trying to attack. So, yeah, Montreal will be interesting. Try to get a few more podiums but yeah, we've got to probably prove on at least one other circuit before the summer break that we can win again. And then maybe we're a nice little outside chance.
"For tyres, yeah, I think today, because it's a tight circuit, you're able to take the piss a little bit with going slow. I mean, there were times I was really cruising but, y'know, the circuit allows you to do that because it's hard to overtake but I don't think we'll be able to maintain that kind of rhythm on a circuit like Montreal or something. So, I think it's more circuit-dependent - but I'm glad they're bringing the hyper-softs again.''