He’s already impressed many, but Daniel Ricciardo believes he’s only going to get better as a driver as the Formula One season continues.

The Australian sits third on the championship standings after his maiden grand prix victory in Canada and three podium finishes, the most recent at Silverstone last round.

It’s been a remarkable opening half to his first year with Red Bull, whom he joined from junior outfit Toro Rosso to replace compatriot Mark Webber.

Ricciardo has bettered his teammate and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in each of the past seven races, and could do it again at this weekend’s mid-season German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

“For the second half I think naturally it should improve in terms of me as a driver,” the 25-year-old said.

“You’re constantly learning. I’m still very young in my Formula One career so there are still some things I’m picking up even weekend after weekend.

“Naturally, with the team, I’m going to grow with them. The relationships with the engineers and the people around me is just going to get better.

“So all these little things will keep coming together.

“If I can get up on the podium a few more times, then my confidence and self-belief are just going to keep growing.”

Ricciardo is confident of a better performance from his team in Germany than at their home race in Austria last month, when he finished a season-low eighth and Vettel retired with mechanical issues.

“We definitely learned some stuff from Austria,” the Perth-born driver said.

“I’d like to think that even if the characteristics of the track are similar, we should be a bit more competitive.

“We’re expecting a better result than Austria, we’re not expecting it to be as difficult.”

Ricciardo knows, however, Vettel and fellow German Nico Rosberg – who currently leads the championship – will be hungry for a result in front of a home crowd still buzzing from their country’s World Cup title win in Brazil.

“I hope I can turn things around and that we can have a good race on Sunday,” said last year’s German GP winner Vettel, whose home town is only 30 minutes from the track.

“Of course we are not the favourites going into the weekend, but there’s always a chance of winning.”