Ricciardo's career on full beam Pumped up: Daniel Ricciardo says he feels more confident this season and ready for the challenges ahead. Australia's formula one heir apparent Daniel Ricciardo has a big smile and even bigger ambitions as he eagerly anticipates the start of the season that could secure his future stardom. Ricciardo's trademark toothy grin is even more prominent following the removal of braces during his summer break at home in Perth, and his goals for this year and beyond are just as revealing. The 23-year-old is poised to take over from Mark Webber in the next few years as the only Australian in F1 after being groomed for fame for the past six years by Red Bull. While Webber, 36, dismisses suggestions he is planning to retire at the end of this season, speculation persists that Ricciardo is one of the leading candidates to replace him as world champion Sebastian Vettel's teammate at Red Bull Racing. It is a natural assumption as he drives for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team, and both he and his French teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, are racing for their F1 futures this year. In their second seasons with the Italy-based squad, they each will be racing for promotion - to Red Bull if Webber leaves - or placement at another team further up the rankings. If they don't improve and perform to the satisfaction of Red Bull's notoriously uncompromising driver adviser, Dr Helmut Marko, it's F1 unemployment. Ricciardo is an innocent bystander in the conjecture about Webber's position at Red Bull Racing after this season, but his fierce ambition means he doesn't shy from the fact that driving for a top team that will give him the chance to become world champion is his aim. Although every year is important in the ruthlessly competitive environment of F1, he acknowledges this season is especially important to helping him achieve that lofty goal. "Yes, it is," Ricciardo said at a promotional appearance on Tuesday. I think the best thing I can do this year is obviously try to beat the Frenchman [Vergne] convincingly and if it sets me up for a seat at Red Bull or elsewhere, I think that's just what I have to try to target. [The aim] is to then put myself in a position to try to fight for a world championship in the near future. Ricciardo definitely won't back off in the unlikely event he gets the chance to go for a victory, declaring he would ignore any order from the team to slow down for a sure podium finish. "If I were in that position, I'd definitely go for the win," he grinned. If the team were saying 'We need the points, just stay where you are', I'm not going to do that. I'm going to try to get as much as I can out of it. Although the new Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8 wasn't a standout in pre-season testing, Ricciardo is guardedly optimistic that it will be an improvement on last year's car, in which he impressed by scoring top-10 points-earning finishes. He can't wait for his second full season in F1 to get under way this weekend in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, expressing his anticipation with his usual enthusiasm. "I'm definitely pumped up," he said above the squeal of tyres at a VW motorkhana media challenge at Essendon Airport. I feel more confident coming in to another season and ready for the challenges ahead and ready to take them on. So I wouldn't say I'm nervous, just more excited and hungry to go. I'm coming in with more experience, which is something you really can't buy, but definitely more confidence. Even if testing didn't go as well as we expected, everything's still open and we could be really quick this weekend. I genuinely think no one really knows. Ricciardo nabbed ninth place on the last lap in his Australian GP debut last year and he has targeted an even better result on Sunday. "I think [scoring] points is definitely on the cards," he said. Top eight would be a really good start to the year. And then as the season progresses, just consistently get points. Obviously, I want to win - I'd love to win - but whether that's going to be possible, we'll soon find out. Last year it wasn't, but maybe things will swing our way this year.