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Daniel Ricciardo says he is not ruling out a world championship title charge this season after defeating the pace-setting Mercedes to win the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Western Australian produced arguably the drive of his career to dominate the race at Spa Francorchamps for his third race win of the year after triumphs at Canada and Hungary.
Ricciardo’s victory has closed the gap to championship leader Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) to 64 points with seven races remaining.
With double points on offer for the final round of the season at Abu Dhabi, the Red Bull Racing driver believes he could emerge as a title contender if he can maintain his run of strong performances.
“If I am within 50 points coming into Abu Dhabi then yeah,” said Ricciardo.
“There are still a few races to go. Definitely while it is still mathematically possible we will keep fighting.
“To come and steal some points where we were not supposed to is nice.
“What is important now to look ahead is to capitalise on the circuits we can be strong on – if we can take maximum points at a couple of those it is never over.”
Having earmarked the high speed Spa circuit as a venue Red Bull may struggle for pace, Ricciardo says the victory serves as a real confidence boost that his team can be competitive at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time.
“I see good things ahead if we can collect maximum points around here,” added Ricciardo.
“It gives us a bit more hope for the circuits that are going to come later in the season, Singapore, Suzuka, just a couple to mention.
“It is great – we are really motivated right now and it has been a really good day for us on a track where we didn’t expect to get maximum points.
“I’ll keep smiling for a while but I still stay grounded. Monza I know will be tricky again but the package we bought here was pretty racy, so we’ll try to take something from here to Monza, and Singapore, Suzuka will be pretty good for us.”
