Daniel Ricciardo believes the final five races of the 2014 season will prove a good indicator as to whether he truly is quicker than four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
The Australian has outpaced his more experienced team-mate throughout the season so far. However with Vettel showing a return to form in Singapore with his best finish of the season in second, Ricciardo reckons it is now a straight and fair fight for top honours.
“He has got to grips with it better [more recently],” Ricciardo said after being beaten in Singapore by the smallest of margins.
“On Sundays my race performance has been the surprising one that has been really good, and what I have had going for me is tyre management. I have been able to look after the tyres better.
“But in terms of pure speed, he is up to speed with everything and he has pushed me down in the last few qualifyings.
“So from now until the end of the year there should not be any question marks: whoever is in front, is in front.”
At present they are all-square at 7-7 in qualifying, but Ricciardo has beaten Vettel 11-3 on Sunday, though the German has suffered from poorer reliability.
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