Brawn: 'He would be a challenger to the championship in a Mercedes'

Daniel Ricciardo took his second podium of the season in Italy, adding to his P3 at the Eifel Grand Prix earlier this year and the smiling Australian was happy about that. Rightly so, because he had started to miss the podium after he left Red Bull Racing. This time he didn't forget his shoey either, but it was also a demonstration of his skills.

A brilliant driver

Apart from his performance on the track, the fact that Ricciardo finished on the podium was also due to the retirement of Max Verstappen. Nevertheless, Renault can be happy that he performed so well, as this earned them strong points again. On top of that, the driver also showed his ability, which didn't go unnoticed by Ross Brawn.

In his column on Formula1.com he writes: "Daniel Ricciardo is a brilliant driver, and one of the very best in Formula 1. His drive to another podium was very impressive. If he had a Mercedes, that’s absolutely no doubt in my mind he would taking race wins and pole positions and challenging for the World Championship."

Departure from Renault

"He’s doing a fantastic job right now and Renault will be sad to lose him, even if Fernando Alonso is the man who’ll be stepping in. I hope McLaren can give Daniel a car he deserves next season. He’s a great member of the F1 fraternity," said Brawn.

In other words, if he were sitting next to Hamilton at Mercedes, the fight would be much fiercer. Bottas is a good driver, but Hamilton shows time and time again that he is the superior. From the words of Brawn, it is clear that Ricciardo would be more daring against the six-time champion on his way to his seventh title.