Ricciardo optimistic of strong showing at Italian Grand Prix

The Australian, who is heading into his fifth grand prix as an HRT driver, believes that both he and team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi will be boosted by racing at the track.

"Racing here does give me a bit more confidence," said Ricciardo when asked by AUTOSPORT about whether having won here earlier in the season is a help.

"Coming to a track where you have been successful always makes you enjoy it more. I'm ready for this weekend and it's Tonio's home race as well. If we can both push each other on and get close to or in front of the Virgins, and close the gap to Lotus, that would be a good weekend."

Ricciardo is confident that the low-downforce characteristics of the track will allow HRT to be more competitive.

The team has as Monza-specification rear wing for this weekend and the Australian believes that this will allow him to take the fight to Virgin.

"The nature of the circuit should bring everyone a bit closer," he said. "It won't be a disadvantage for us and, if anything, it should be an advantage.

"I'm hoping that this is one of the races where we can really challenge our rivals."

With two independent DRS activation zones for Sunday's race, one located on the start/finish straight and one on the run between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane, Ricciardo expects it to be possible to stay close to potentially quicker cars.

"The two zones will help," said Ricciardo. "As long as we can get in range because if everyone else is in them and we're not in range, then we're going to fall away quite quickly.

"If we can hang in there for the first few laps, it could definitely close things up."