DANIEL Ricciardo knows exactly how good Sebastian Vettel can be — especially with the scent of victory in his nostrils.

Vettel carries a 25-point margin over Lewis Hamilton heading to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, effectively a race victory in hand over the Mercedes driver.

The 2017 Ferrari also appears to be the most consistent performer across a wide variety of tracks and conditions.

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It is the faith that — for the first time since Vettel arrived at Ferrari — he can challenge for victory on any given weekend which makes Vettel an even more formidable opponent in the title chase, according to his former Red Bull teammate.

“Seb is one of the best drivers on the grid period, but he’s absolutely one of the best when he has good equipment and a car he has confidence in,” Ricciardo told FOX Sports News 500.

“You can see that this year: his worst result is a second place and he’s obviously comfortable and confident in the car. Unless something drastically changes, he’s going to be hard to beat in the state he’s in.

“It’s probably more in Seb’s hands at the moment, but nothing’s guaranteed. Absolutely not.”

Nobody knows that better than Vettel’s chief challenger.

Hamilton sat 43 points behind Nico Rosberg four races into last season but claimed the championship lead seven races later.

Mercedes admits it has struggled to consistently find the right set up for this year’s wider Pirelli tyres, leading to the team’s up-and-down fortunes as it pursues a fourth-straight title.

It’s not a situation Ricciardo expects to remain for long.

“I feel like Mercedes can probably make more gains. With their kind of infrastructure, they can probably gain a bit more throughout the season,” Ricciardo said.

“With Lewis as well, Lewis is a bit like Seb. When the car’s great, he’s killing it, but when they start to come under a bit of adversity ...”

While Red Bull’s title hopes have likely set sail for another season, both Ricciardo and teammate Max Verstappen will likely play spoilers among the championship protagonists.

Renault have engine upgrades in the pipeline for later in the season, while Ricciardo believes the team are starting to learn the secrets of the Red Bull RB13 chassis.

“I feel like we’re starting to get a bit of momentum and get things flowing in the right direction, now we’ve had back-to-back podiums,” Ricciardo added.

“I think we’re really starting to figure out the car and it’s strengths and weaknesses and we’re starting to exploit that now. It’s getting there.

“It’s been a slower start than we would have liked, but I have faith now that it’s going to keep getting better and better.”

FORMULA 1 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX TV TIMES

Don’t miss a moment of the 2017 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix. FOX SPORTS has every Formula 1® practice session, qualifying and the race from Montreal EXCLUSIVELY LIVE in HD.

You can also access exclusive extra video feeds online with FOX SPORTS Race Centre during Sunday’s race, where you can watch live timing, on-board cameras, a pit lane view with bonus team radio audio, as well as a driver tracker.

Here’s the schedule for this weekend. All times AEST and on FOX SPORTS 506.

SATURDAY

12:00am — Practice 1

3:45am — Practice 2

6:00am — Team Principals’ press conference

6:45pm — The F1 Show

SUNDAY

12:00am — Practice 3

2:00am — Qualifying pre-show

3:00am — Qualifying

MONDAY

2:30am — Pre-race show

4:00am — 2017 Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada