Hamilton full of praise for Daniel Ricciardo - MotorSportsTalk

Lewis Hamilton has become the latest figure within Formula 1 to heap praise upon Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo following the Australian driver’s superb start to the 2014 season.

After moving up from Toro Rosso at the beginning of the year, Ricciardo has claimed two race wins and currently lies third in the championship behind the all-dominant Mercedes drivers.

Few expected him to establish himself as a front-running driver so quickly with Red Bull, and even fewer predicted that he would enjoy a 43-point lead over teammate and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel after eleven races of the season.

Hamilton may have lost out to Ricciardo at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but he showed no signs of sour grapes and had nothing but good to say when speaking about the Australian to the BBC.

“He’s been driving fantastically well from the beginning of the year,” Hamilton said. “He’s shown his capability and is going from strength to strength.

“He’s not only one of the nicest guys in the paddock, but also one of the best drivers here, for sure.”

Ricciardo has made a big impression on the Formula 1 community in 2014, proving himself to be more than up to the challenge of racing for the world champion team.

With two grand prix victories now under his belt, the target for the Australian will be to keep up his good form and finish the year as the ‘best of the rest’ behind Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the drivers’ championship.

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The NBC Sports IndyCar power rankings naturally were as jumbled as the action on the streets of St. Petersburg after a chaotic opener to the 2023 season.

Pato O’Ward, who finished second because of an engine blip that cost him the lead with a few laps remaining, moves into the top spot ahead of St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. Scott Dixon and St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who led 31 laps) rounded out the top five.

St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who started first at St. Pete after capturing his second career pole position) Callum Ilott (a career-best fifth) and Graham Rahal entered the power rankings entering the season’s second race.

Three drivers fell out of the preseason top 10 after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – including previously top-ranked Josef Newgarden, who finished 17^th after qualifying 14^th.

Heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, here’s NBC Sports’ assessment of the current top 10 drivers through the first of 17 races this year (with previous preseason rankings in parenthesis):

NBC Sports’ IndyCar Power Rankings

1. Pato O’Ward (5) – If not for the dreaded “plenum event” in the No. 5 Chevrolet, the Arrow McLaren driver is opening the season with a victory capping a strong race weekend.

2. Marcus Ericsson (7) – He might be the most opportunistic driver in IndyCar, but that’s because the 2022 Indy 500 winner has become one of the series’ fastest and most consistent stars.

3. Alexander Rossi (10) – He overcame a frustrating Friday and mediocre qualifying to open his Arrow McLaren career with the sort of hard-earned top five missing in his last years at Andretti.

4. Scott Dixon (3) – Put aside his opening-lap skirmish with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, and it was a typically stealthily good result for the six-time champion.

5. Romain Grosjean (NR) – The St. Petersburg pole-sitter consistently was fastest on the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of the race weekend, which he couldn’t say once last year.

6. Scott McLaughlin (6) – Easily the best of the Team Penske drivers before his crash with Grosjean, McLaughlin drove like a legitimate 2023 championship contender.

7. Callum Ilott (NR) – A quietly impressive top five for the confident Brit in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first race as a two-car team. Texas will be a big oval litmus test.

8. Graham Rahal (NR) – Sixth at St. Pete, Rahal still has the goods on street courses, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan remains headed in the right direction.

9. Alex Palou (4) – He seemed a step behind Ericsson and Dixon in the race after just missing the Fast Six in qualifying, but this was a solid start for Palou.

10. Will Power (2) – An uncharacteristic mistake that crashed Colton Herta put a blemish on the type of steady weekend that helped him win the 2022 title.

Falling out (last week): Josef Newgarden (1), Colton Herta (8), Christian Lundgaard (9)