Ten reasons Red Bull signed Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has never finished better than seventh in a grand prix. He has yet to start higher than fifth and has a grand total of two laps of experience of running in the top three.

Next season, he will be expected to fight for race victories and be a key part of a world championship push.

It is a big step up for the Australian, but the 24-year-old has earned his chance to be tested at the highest level.

Here are 10 reasons why Red Bull feels confident enough to give Ricciardo the chance to prove he can cut it at the sharp end of F1.

Ricciardo's Bahrain qualifying lap last year got the paddock talking © LAT

1 HE IS SERIOUSLY FAST

It is all-too-easy for quality performances to be lost in the crowded midfield. But on occasion Ricciardo has shown startling single-lap pace.

In Bahrain last year, the Australian turned in what was probably the qualifying lap of the year to line up sixth. It is not an isolated case. In the last two races in Germany and Hungary he made Q3 in a car that, as race pace showed, probably shouldn't have. He got close to the maximum out of it while others failed to deliver.

That kind of raw, underlying speed is the stock-in-trade of any potential top grand prix driver. One thing that Red Bull can be sure of is that, on a given lap on a given weekend, Ricciardo is more than quick enough to give Sebastian Vettel a serious hurry-up in qualifying.

2 HE IS BETTER IN THE RACES THAN HE LOOKS

One of the great curses of being a strong qualifier is that often you are unfairly criticised in race conditions. Granted, there are some drivers who are superb in qualifying and poor in the race, but Ricciardo is not one of them.

Over a single lap, it is possible to put yourself ahead of faster cars. But extend that to a period of 50 laps and it becomes increasingly unlikely that you will be able to do so. In both Germany and Hungary, Ricciardo was unable to score points as the Toro Rosso struggled for pace.

This is an example of regression to the mean. Often, Jean-Eric Vergne is cited as a better racer than Ricciardo because he often qualifies badly and climbs in the race. In reality, one is qualifying superbly, the other often not so well and then the pair will converge to roughly the level the car should be.

Red Bull has backed Ricciardo throughout his junior career © LAT

3 HE IS A RED BULL MAN

Red Bull knows exactly what it is getting with Ricciardo. He has been on its books since he was competing in Formula Renault 2.0 and has spent the last 18 months racing for Toro Rosso.

He understands how the company works, he knows how he will be expected to conduct himself on and off track and has a good grasp of the culture within the team. No new driver recruitment is ever seamless, but this will ensure that his assimilation into Red Bull's A-team will be as smooth as can be realistically expected.

With so much upheaval next year thanks to the introduction of the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V8 engines, the team does not want to be devoting much time in pre-season testing to making its new driver at home. Ricciardo is the low-maintenance choice.

4 THE ENGINEERS LIKE HIM

When Ricciardo had his first taste of testing Red Bull in the young driver tests at Jerez (in 2009) and Abu Dhabi (2010), he made a very good impression on those running his car.

Thanks to a quirk of fate, namely the tyre problems Pirelli encountered in the British Grand Prix, he was able to return for an unexpected third outing in the young driver test with Red Bull in July.

Not only did he show good pace, but he did nothing to force those working with him to change their opinion of him. Considering his test did not exactly get off to the best possible start when he ended up in the gravel, that shows that the rank-and-file who will have to work with him will welcome Ricciardo.

Ricciardo had poor races in Monaco and Canada, so knuckled down and solved his problems © XPB

5 HE IS A GOOD LEARNER

Ricciardo is only in his second full season of F1 so cannot be expected to be the finished article. What Red Bull is looking at is where his learning curve will level out rather than where he is right now.

But Ricciardo has shown an ability to learn from his mistakes. In last year's Bahrain GP, after that stunning qualifying lap, he made a mediocre getaway and spent the rest of the lap failing to get the situation under control, eventually losing 10 positions. Next time he was up front, in China this year, he was rock solid.

In Monaco and Canada, he had bad weekends. But after those races he sat down with the team, worked out where he was going wrong, specifically with chasing too many set-up changes rather than working methodically. That new approach allowed him to hit the ground running in Britain.

6 HE HAS BEATEN VERGNE

Vergne is very well regarded within Red Bull. Several senior personnel regarded 'JEV' as the junior with the greatest potential but Ricciardo has outshone him.

Although the Frenchman has scored more points while they are together, such a measure is a dangerous one in a team that only scores sporadically. The fact is that Ricciardo has been far more convincing in qualifying and made fewer mistakes.

That is not to say Vergne is a failure, far from it. He is still rated highly enough to be retained at STR and remain a potential future Red Bull driver. That Ricciardo has managed to impress Red Bull more than Vergne therefore reflects how good a job he has done rather than any failure on his team-mate's part.

Raikkonen would have required a bigger salary © LAT

7 HE IS VALUE FOR MONEY

It's stating the obvious to point out Ricciardo is significantly cheaper than Kimi Raikkonen. And while Red Bull is hardly short of a dollar or two, his cost-effectiveness is certainly a factor.

Team leader Vettel is on a good retainer bolstered heavily by bonus payments, but with a baseline pay rate not as high as it could be. Had Red Bull bought in a more expensive driver the cost could have been compounded.

Bring in Raikkonen on big money and Vettel, inevitably, might have a case to demand a bigger retainer, particularly as he is currently well-placed for a fourth consecutive title. But with Ricciardo on the other side of the garage, the status quo will not be upset.

8 HE IS A LONG-TERM PROSPECT

With Vettel coveted by rival teams and under contract only until the end of 2015, it is logical for Red Bull to have in place a driver it can keep for the long term.

This does not necessarily mean Ricciardo is seen as the next Vettel, although the team will give him every chance to mature into a championship-calibre driver, but at the very least it should ensure long-term continuity on one side of the garage if it has to head-hunt another top gun.

Red Bull has always prized continuity and unless Ricciardo proves not to be up to the challenge of stepping up, he should at the very least be a strong long-term performer in the second car.

The PR workload won't be an issue for Ricciardo © LAT

9 HE IS GOOD FOR PR

Never forget that Red Bull is in F1 for marketing reasons. In that context, the affable, effusive Ricciardo is the obvious choice.

While Raikkonen has tremendous popularity, his PR value reasons is somewhat limited. His 'no bullshit' character ticks a few of Red Bull's boxes, but he simply does not fit in with the usual profile expected of a Red Bull athlete. Certainly, when he was Red Bull backed in rallying, the company was far from delighted with what it got out of him.

But with Vettel not willing to do too much PR donkey work, Ricciardo will be able to absorb as much as is needed very effectively - not to mention show off the value of the Red Bull junior programme.

10 HE IS READY

There comes a point when a driver has to prove he can deliver at the sharp end. Toro Rosso is not the easiest place to make a big impression, but since last year's August break he has shown very good progress.

The time was right for Red Bull to make a decision with him. Either he gets cast onto the same scrapheap as Jaime Alguersuari or Sebastien Buemi (although the latter remains a Red Bull driver he is no longer a contender for a race seat) or he gets pitched into the final examination - a campaign with the A-team.

The very fact that Red Bull has opted to promote him is proof he is ready. His STR predecessors were all good drivers but not regarded as having the potential to be truly great ones. In the harshest of environments, Ricciardo has earned the right to take the next step in his development.

None of the above reasons are a guarantee of success, either individually or collectively. But together they show that Ricciardo has ticked all of the boxes he can at Toro Rosso.

Now it is time for him to seize his opportunity on the biggest stage. It is now up to him to join the dots of his performances peaks in the most unforgiving sporting environment he will ever face.