Ricciardo: I give Hamilton "all of the respect" for winning 5th title

Daniel Ricciardo believes Lewis Hamilton deserves "full credit" and "full respect" for winning his fifth World Championship. The Australian suggests he deserves all the more credit for continuing his lifestyle outside of Formula One.

This year, Hamilton has developed his own fashion range and produced a musical collaboration with Christiana Aguilera. All while competing in one of the most demanding sports.

"My competitive side will always believe I'm in the best and in that car, I could do the same things," Ricciardo said.

"But I definitely give him all the respect and it's definitely not a go at Lewis: I think he’s been pretty awesome at being able to do what he’s done continuously on track for the best part of a decade, but also done his own thing away from the track. For him to live the life he’s living and still keep up such a performance, full credit to him.”

Yesterday, Max Verstappen claimed that any driver could win in Hamilton's car. See the article here.

Ricciardo kind of agrees with his team-mate, but he goes on to acknowledge the little battles Hamilton won so he could get the better of his rival Sebastian Vettel.

"OK, you can have a fast car but you’ve got to be able to perform week in and week out. Seb’s, for the most part, had a fast car all year but when you’re fighting for the title it’s those little ‘one-percenters’ that Lewis’s has got on top of more often than him and that’s what really dictated the pace of this championship," Ricciardo said in an interview on racefans.

“I give Lewis full respect."