Daniel Ricciardo has said he is confident both he a𓆉nd Red Bull can take the steps necessary over the winte💎r break to fight for the 2018 Formula 1 world title next year.

Ricciardo is currently fourth in driver standings - assuming he holds of♕f Kimi Raikkonen (only seven poin𒈔ts behind) then it will be a place back from his finish in third last year - and previously in 2014.

Despite initial hopes the Red Bull car would be strong this year, reliability and a slow start to the season have dogged the team and a race win in Baku has not pushed him into c𓆉ontention for a higher placing.

Nevertheless, he says🌞 he is confident winter break work will see Red Bull improve again to start strongly in 2018.

“We'll see, this year we again h🍸ad high hopes for that, next year again we hope to close the g🦩ap,” Ricciardo said. “Is it enough to fight for a title? I think we can certainly get close but we’ll see. I don't want to predict anything too early.

“But I 🍰think we've learnt a lot this year and I think we'll pu⛎t the right work in over the winter to start strong and then that will be exciting.”

Ricciardo leads Red Bull team-mate Verstappen, who has been particularly hit by Renault reliability problems, by 42 points and said overall his season had been good but wants key changes to b𝓀e made in preparation for 2018.

“Yes, I think on a personal level just make sure I fill in the blanks,” he said. “I think my season's been good, there's been some great races but obviously I would love all 20 to be great and not all 20 have been. I’ll assess the year, obviously once it's all settled and then just try and understand what I could have improved and make thos💟e improvements.

“I'm sure there's on-track stuff but also off-track. And then just give next year a proper crack. I've been p𒀰retty pleased with the year but I'm looking forward to extracting a b𓃲it more from myself.”