Introducing: Daniel Ricciardo

In the last two years, arguably the most promising up-and-coming talent in the lower formulae has been young Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who began his first Formula One race with the Hispania team at last weekend's British Grand Prix. Though his performance may have appeared lacklustre on paper, Ricciardo's backing from Red Bull combined with his obvious abundance of talent mean that it's more than possible that the world has just witnessed the beginning of an F1 career that has every possibility of being as successful as, if not more so than, those of fellow Australians Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and Mark Webber.

After impressing in the Formula BMW Asia series in 2006, Ricciardo secured a drive for 2007 in the Italian Formula Renault series, where a near-constant streak of points-scoring finishes saw him finish sixth in the points, crushing his two teammates and earning himself a place with the Red Bull Junior Team for 2008. Launching a twin-assault on both the West European and the Eurocup Formula Renault series, Ricciardo won the former and came a close second in the latter to current Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas, racking up a total of fourteen wins along the way and marking himself out as a potential star of the future. Red Bull have been criticised for their 'scattergun' approach to backing young hopefuls, but there's no denying that it certainly ensures no potential world-beaters slip through the net.

Having conquered the Formula Renault scene, Formula Three was always the next logical step for Ricciardo, and Red Bull placed him in the 2009 British championship with the crack Carlin team that took fellow Red Bull junior Jaime Alguersauri to the title the previous year. Ricciardo began the year as he meant to go on by winning the opening pair of races at Oulton Park, and fended off stiff opposition from the Hitech Racing drivers Walter Grubmuller and Renger Van Der Zande to win the championship convincingly by an impressive 87 points.

The World Series by Renault championship was the place Red Bull chose to enter Ricciardo the following year, alongside another of their drivers, Brendon Hartley, at the Tech 1 team. Whilst Hartley struggled for results before being unceremoniously dumped by the energy-drink giant mid-way through the season, Ricciardo immediately established himself as a title contender with two pole positions in the first two races. Ultimately, he fell just two points short of the title in the final reckoning, with the vastly more experienced Mikhail Aleshin taking the crown instead, but the Australian took one more win than his Russian rival over the course of the season, including a faultless lights-to-flag victory around the streets of Monaco.

Having been the reserve driver for both of the Red Bull-owned F1 teams during 2010, 2011 has seen Ricciardo participate in numerous Friday practice sessions for Scuderia Toro Rosso, with the unashamed goal of spurring on the team's race drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari to raise their games. It seemed likely that Ricciardo would be making his F1 debut at some point this season at the expense of one of the duo, but Alguersauri's recent upturn in form meant that the Spaniard was granted a stay of execution. This led to Red Bull striking a deal with Hispania for Ricciardo to replace Narain Karthikeyan, beginning at Silverstone.

This meant nearly everybody was a winner: Ricciardo would gain valuable race experience with next-to-no pressure on his shoulders, Buemi and Alguersauri would both be given extra time to prove themselves worthy of remaining at Toro Rosso, Red Bull would buy themselves extra time to evaluate all three, and Hispania presumably would gain a sizeable bag of money from Austria's foremost peddler of high-energy beverages along with a highly talented driver to boot. The only loser would be Karthikeyan, who, with the exception of his home race in India, would have no choice to but to sit out the remainder of the year.

Of course, Ricciardo's teammate at Hispania, Vitantonio Liuzzi, was a Red Bull junior himself until being replaced at Toro Rosso by Sebastien Bourdais at the start of 2008, giving Red Bull the additional benefit of being able to measure their latest protégé against a known quantity. Ricciardo outpaced the Italian in all three practice sessions at Silverstone, but his lack of experience meant he had trouble warming up the tyres quickly enough when it came to qualifying. Still, only half-a-second slower Liuzzi on his very first attempt was nothing to be sniffed at. His caution on the damp track surface as well as being mired in blue flags (something he hasn't been used to in the lower classes) meant he failed to keep up with Liuzzi and Jerome D'Ambrosio ahead, but merely finishing the race at all meant it was a job well done for Ricciardo on his first day at the office.

As he racks up racing experience, these minor niggles should resolve themselves. Ricciardo proved during practice that it's certainly not speed that's lacking, and bearing that in mind Ricciardo should be able to outperform Liuzzi in the races as well towards the end of the season. Provided he manages that, a seat at Toro Rosso in 2012 seems all but a certainty for Ricciardo – there has even been talk of him replacing his compatriot Webber at the end of this season should he decide to hang up his helmet, but that appears to be but an extremely minor possibility for now.

Presuming he gets the drive at Toro Rosso in 2012, Ricciardo should theoretically be able to outperform either Buemi or Alguersauri, depending on which of them is forced to move aside. This would effectively enable to him to 'jump the queue' of Red Bull juniors, and with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's apparent disinterest in the services of Lewis Hamilton suggesting it will be another of their in-house young guns who will join Sebastian Vettel in 2013, Ricciardo has every chance of landing himself the best seat in the house when that time comes.

It's far too early to say whether Ricciardo can be as successful as Vettel, who himself already is staking a claim to being another of the sport's all-time greats, but judging from his performances thus far, the 22-year old seems to have a similar amount of potential as the new wunderkind did four years ago when he emerged on the F1 stage. Combine that potential with his gregarious nature, easy-going charm and his ever-present smile, and Red Bull surely has an instant hit with the fans on their books, as well as somebody who will be able to extract the maximum from any machinery at his disposal. As long as Red Bull can maintain the kind of form they currently display, there's no doubt in my mind that Ricciardo has everything that it takes to become world champion.