Ricciardo pledges to stay on course despite looming switch to Red Bull

Australian says he will not be awed by teaming up with Formula One's dominant driver

Australian Daniel Ricciardo says he will not change a thing in moving from Toro Rosso next season to Red Bull Racing, where he will partner with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. Srdjan Suki / EPA

ABU DHABI // Daniel Ricciardo has vowed he is not going to alter his approach to racing over the winter as he prepares for the stiff challenge of taking on world champion Sebastian Vettel in equal equipment as Red Bull Racing teammates next season.

The Australian, whose best result in Formula One is a seventh-place finish, will go up against a man who has won the past four world titles and is on a six race winning streak going into this weekend’s Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Asked how he is preparing for Vettel, he said on Wednesday: “I have got here on merit and I do not think I should change anything too much and my aim is simply to keep doing what I am doing as it got me to here and to continue learning.”

Ricciardo, 24, will join the Austrian team at the conclusion of the season after spending the past two seasons at Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso.

He is under no delusions, though, that Vettel will be a formidable teammate

Of his relationship with the German, he said: “We talk a little bit. As teammates things will become competitive as they do all the time.

“I have respect for him and I am going to enter the season trying to learn as much as I can and he is the champion, so he is the guy I need to chase.”

Asked what his ambitions will be for 2014, he added: “To get on the podium and to win some races would be a beautiful thing but I have the best guy in the world next to me, so he will be tough to stop but I am looking forward to the challenge.”

Since his promotion to replace Mark Webber, his compatriot who is retiring from the sport at the end of the season, was announced in September, Ricciardo has become conditioned to increased interest in him, both from media and from fans.

He says that being more in the spotlight will not faze him.

“I am able to switch off pretty easily and to relax so it should be fine,” he said. To be honest I am just excited to have a real fast car and get some good consistency at the front and mix it with the world champion.

“You have got to use [pressure] as a strength and as a motivation and that is what I am planning to do.”