Ricciardo has proved he can bother Vettel

When Red Bull announced last September that Daniel Ricciardo had secured the seat vacated by Mark Webber for the 2014, there was widespread scepticism.

After all, in just over two years in Formula 1, first with HRT and subsequently with Toro Rosso, the ever-grinning Australian had only a handful of Q3 appearances and a smattering of minor points finishes on his CV.

With Kimi Raikkonen on the market and under serious consideration, many wondered exactly what Red Bull had seen in Ricciardo. Some suggested he was the easy option, a cut-price number two who would support Sebastian Vettel in a way that a driver of Raikkonen's status could not do.

Others argued that it was simply a case of Red Bull justifying the existence of its junior driver programme and Toro Rosso. The question wasn't who is the best replacement for Webber; it was who was the best choice out of Ricciardo and team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Both of these factors did perhaps play into the decision. But the most significant reason was that Ricciardo had done enough to justify the opportunity.

Internally, Vergne had once been regarded as potentially the better prospect. His intensity was considered a plus and he would regularly harangue his bosses for any chance to do simulator work or a show car run. Ricciardo's more laid back, laconic style suggested that perhaps he didn't have the required ruthless edge.

Ricciardo's laconic style initially put him behind Vergne in the fight for Webber's seat © XPB

As it transpired, Ricciardo's attitude has proved essential. He is a phlegmatic character who, unlike Vergne during the previous two seasons, seems to deal with adversity with more ease.

His attitude after the 2012 Bahrain GP disabused anyone paying attention of the nation that he might just be that bit too easy-going.

He had qualified a stunning sixth for that race and parts of his lap were quicker than Vettel's pole position. It was arguably the best single qualifying lap of that season.

But at the start, he made a poor getaway. He then compounded that with some poor decisions while trying to limit the damage and continued to go backwards. This resulted in him finishing that lap 16th and with some car damage.

Speaking to Ricciardo shortly after the race, he was very hard on himself. There were no excuses, just an admission that he had blown a great starting position and had nobody to blame but himself.

Some would simply laugh it off as one of those things, or seek excuses, but within minutes of the finish he understood that he alone was responsible and knew what he had done wrong.

Next time he started so far up the grid, in China last year, there was no repeat and he started and finished seventh. Heading into that race, Bahrain was on his mind and he proved he had exorcised those demons.

Drivers never stop developing, even once they have reached F1. The difference between the greatest and the merely very good is that they do this better than others.

The key to doing so is the kind of understanding Ricciardo showed. When things go well, it is essential to recognise why so you can repeat the trick. When things go badly, self-analysis is equally important to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again.

When Ricciardo was promoted, the feeling among top brass at Red Bull was not dissimilar to they way it was when Vettel was promoted ahead of the 2009 season.

Ricciardo, like Vettel, showed enough glimpses to justify promotion © XPB

The decision-makers knew Ricciardo had shown enough glimpses of real ability at Toro Rosso to make him worth a shot, but as to just how well he would do on the frontline, nobody could be sure.

While Vettel had that sensational win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix on his CV, a victory that some still fail to recognise the brilliance of, Ricciardo had also startled at times.

He turned in some qualifying performances that made a big impression and crushed Vergne when it came to delivering single-lap pace.

The question was, could that sometimes blinding pace be converted into consistent results when battling with the likes of Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton?

What happened in Australia only goes a small way to answering that question. But Ricciardo qualified and finished second in a car that was not on the same planet as Mercedes performance-wise. By definition, he could have done no better.

What's more, he did it with the pressure of the home crowd that had so often been a millstone for Webber in Melbourne, and in the knowledge that a 2014 Red Bull had never before completed a race distance.

Those kinds of distractions would compromise the performance of many drivers, but not Ricciardo.

It also answered some of the legitimate questions over Ricciardo's race performances during his time at Toro Rosso. As he often extracted the maximum out of the car in qualifying, he inevitably regressed to the mean in the races so often went backwards.

He was clearly a good racer and concerns were overplayed in some quarters, but was he good enough to get among the best?

There were some very encouraging signs. After a difficult start to his time with Toro Rosso, in the second half of 2012 he started to make strides forward. In that year's Japanese GP, he made a massive impression by holding off Michael Schumacher for 10th place.

The Mercedes driver was significantly quicker, but Ricciardo's car positioning was excellent and he showed no signs of cracking under the pressure of being chased by F1's most successful driver. He made the difference between scoring a point and the 11th place he probably should have finished, which did not go unnoticed at the time.

Ricciardo was in good company after qualifying © XPB

His crowd-pleasing second place in Melbourne, the likes of which Webber had not been able to deliver while at Red Bull, demonstrates that he is no one-trick pony. He was, without question, the feel-good story of the race.

Melbourne's Herald Sun greeted his subsequent disqualification for having broken the 100kg/h fuel-flow rate with a front page treatment that screamed "Grand Farce".

But perhaps the real story was that, irrespective of what subsequently happened, the home hero had demonstrated exactly why he was in a top team.

Some argue he should not have been excluded, especially over an arcane regulation concerning fuel-flow on the basis that it was such a great feelgood story. Others argued that it looks bad for the sport to throw someone out five hours after the race, but the principle of taking action if a car is deemed illegal is inviolable and F1 must not be afraid to take action in such cases.

Not to do so would turn the sport into a circus, which is 100 times worse as far as a PR move goes. F1 must never fear disqualifications if it is to be taken seriously.

That Ricciardo's run to the podium moved so many to make arguments that run contrary to one of the fundamental tenants of the sport emphasises just how big an impression he has made.

But one swallow does not make a summer and Ricciardo still has a lot to do to prove he can be anything more than a capable number two to Vettel.

One second place proves little in isolation, especially when it no longer shows up on the results sheet. After all, the four times world champion is one of the all-time greats so the odds are against Ricciardo offering a consistent threat to Vettel.

But he has made a damned good start and proved many of the doubters wrong.

Red Bull made the right decision in choosing the promise of Ricciardo over Raikkonen for many reasons. What happened in Australia just serves to underline that.

But it is going to be fascinating to plot Ricciardo's progress during the next 18 races. If he can be a thorn in Vettel's side in the way Webber was in 2010, before the German had matured as a grand prix driver, it could make for a fascinating dynamic.

Not to mention a formidable pairing for Red Bull...