Daniel Ricciardo on Chinese GP win, Bottas and more in Sky F1 exclusive

Daniel Ricciardo has stood by his belief that Valtteri Bottas should have been more daring when attempting to win the Bahrain GP earlier this month.

Fresh from delivering an overtaking masterclass to win the Chinese GP from sixth place, Ricciardo sat down for an exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1 for Sunday's Azerbaijan GP Race Show to review the performance that led Martin Brundle to label him the sport's "overtaking burglar".

Ricciardo's Shanghai win and series of passing moves came just days after he expressed surprise that Mercedes rival Bottas had not attempted an overtake on Sebastian Vettel as the Finn chased down the Ferrari for victory in the closing laps of the previous race in Bahrain.

But would Riccardo really have tried a move in the same situation?

Showing the Australian on-board footage from Bottas' car first the first time as the Mercedes followed Vettel down the pit straight at the start of the final lap at Sakhir, Ricciardo said: "If I'm honest, I haven't seen the on-board so this is the first time…

"He's close enough. Yeah, definitely. Definitely - come on son!

"I'm not saying he would have made it stick but have a crack, son."

Elsewhere in Sky Sports' exclusive with F1's man of the moment, Ricciardo talks Paul di Resta through:

• The overtakes that took him from sixth to first in nine laps in China
• The moment he realised he was going to win
• Whether he would have tried to overtake Lewis Hamilton like team-mate Verstappen did
• Who made the call to pit under the Safety Car

In the background to Ricciardo's Bottas remarks is an expectation the Australian will emerge as a contender to move to Mercedes in 2019 and is effectively in competition with the Finn to partner Lewis Hamilton next year.

"I would love to be challenged against the best and Lewis is arguably up there," Ricciardo said at the start of the weekend.

"I've got a good challenge now obviously with Max and I had Seb, so I don't want to say it's just Lewis I'm looking for, but that would be a good challenge."

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But with his customary calm, Bottas has shrugged off the speculation and indicated he believes he will be retained if he can repeat his recent form in Bahrain and China when the Finn out-performed Hamilton.

"It's normal, I've got used to it and if l perform like l have been performing in the last couple of races l see no issues," Bottas told Sky Sports News.

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