There's a lot at stake for Daniel Ricciardo at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, with a seat at Red Bull next season the potential reward for a strong performance at the Hungaroring.
The vacancy at Red Bull became available last month after fellow Australian Mark Webber's decision to quit F1 to race sports cars for German manufacturer Porsche.
Ricciardo is vying with Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne and Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen for the drive alongside three-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull is expected to announce in the coming weeks who will take it over next season.
While Vergne is a long shot, Ricciardo's hopes were boosted after he impressed the team's hierarchy during a recent test run in the RB9 at Silverstone.
Ricciardo has three top-10 finishes this season and a best of seventh place at the Chinese GP. A better finish on Sunday could give him the edge over Raikkonen and Vergne.
"I still need to have a good weekend. Of course, though, the fewer candidates the better for me," the 24-year-old Ricciardo said. "(I need to) make it happen this weekend."
"I knew from the beginning of the year that an opportunity could arise, so I always kept this in the back of my mind and tried to learn as quickly as possible."
Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz praised Ricciardo after he was given a recent trial run in the ultra-fast RB9 that Vettel races in.
"It was quite something," Ricciardo said. "I was pretty satisfied as I came down to the times pretty fast. And now when I think about it, if I had to do it again I would do it exactly the same."
That testing performance at Silverstone led to increased media speculation that Ricciardo could get the seat ahead of the 33-year-old Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 champion who is third in the overall standings.
"I have never seen so many journalists waiting for me and hanging on my lips for every single word I say," Ricciardo said. "I asked them if they are here because they've already seen the signed contract, because I haven't seen one.
"What I hear is basically what I know from the media, that it will happen around the summer break.
"If I get the news when I'm laying around on some beach, that would be just perfect."
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