Ricciardo returns to the top

Last December young Western Australian Daniel Ricciardo made a name for himself by topping the time sheets at the Formula One end of season testing held in Jerez. That was enough to earn him a spot as the Red Bull reserve driver for the 2010 season. Now, Daniel is back behind the wheel of an F1 car taking part in the Young Driver Testing taking place at Abu Dhabi. Daniel was expected to do well, given his access to the title winning RB6, and he has met expectations by returning to the top of the time sheets.

Ricciardo says it’s great to be back, “I’m really happy to be back in the car after such a great experience last year. 12 months may be a long time ago, but it felt good to be out there again and I was surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable. We still have a few sets of tyres to work through which is nice and means I will be able to have another good run tomorrow.”

Impressively, Ricciardo’s best time of 1:39.616 would have qualified him in third place for last week’s Abu Dhabi GP and was just a quarter of a second off Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time. But that’s not enough for the young Aussie, “The car feels amazing and to be given the opportunity to test the car that has just clinched two championship titles is a real honour. I’m happy with the progress I made today and can’t wait to get back in the car. I’m still a little bit off Seb’s time so hopefully I can find a bit more tomorrow.”

Speaking to Autosport, Ricciardo says he is ready for a full-time role in Formula One, “I think I’m ready and tomorrow we’ll try and do a few more long runs, maybe prepare more for a race situation to see how the body holds up, but I think I’m probably as ready as I can be.”

More pics after the break, as well as a brief statement from the Ricciardo stable. A full report from the first day of testing is available at Formula1.com.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Ricciardo tops day one of F1 young driver test

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo set the pace on the first day of the F1 young driver test in Abu Dhabi today. The Formula Renault 3.5 runner-up was a full second quicker than his nearest rival Oliver Turvey, who was behind the wheel of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

21 year-old Daniel, who was quickest overall in last year’s young driver tests showed that the past 12 months had done nothing to dull his talent as he dominated proceedings once again today.

Testing for the team that only two days ago clinched the 2010 Drivers’ Formula One World Championship, Daniel finished the first day of testing just a quarter of a second off Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Although it is 12 months since Daniel’s last test in an F1 car, he has been an integral part of the Red Bull Racing team this season. In his role as test and reserve driver, Daniel had attended the majority of this year’s Grand Prix as well as assisting the race team with countless hours on the Red Bull Technology simulator.

Speaking at the end of today’s test, Daniel said, “I’m really happy to be back in the car after such a great experience last year. 12 months may be a long time ago, but it felt good to be out there again and I was surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable. We still have a few sets of tyres to work through which is nice and means I will be able to have another good run tomorrow.

“The car feels amazing and to be given the opportunity to test the car that has just clinched two championship titles is a real honour. I’m happy with the progress I made today and can’t wait to get back in the car. I’m still a little bit off Seb’s time so hopefully I can find a bit more tomorrow.”