After five years at Red Bull, Ricciardo made the dramatic decision to leave the Milton Keynes based team and join Renault.
But the French team are unlikely to mount a challenge for the F1 championship in 2019.
Last year, Renault came fourth in the constructors with 122 points being Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
And their best finish from Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. was with fifth on two occasions.
But Ricciardo is looking to Hamilton, who left McLaren at the end of 2012 to join Mercedes.
In his first season with Mercedes, Hamilton finished fourth in the championship.
However, since then Mercedes has won five consecutive championships with Hamilton winning the drivers title four times.
And Ricciardo is hopeful of a similar impact.
“I can certainly take something from Lewis’s success with Mercedes,” said Ricciardo.
“It might not feel like it now, but his good run wasn’t immediate, and his first season there in 2013 wasn’t straightforward.
“That tested him, and even up until 2014 his career wasn’t smooth-sailing, so I can draw from his persistence alone.
“Look at him now. It has given him more years in the sport because without his success he probably would have walked away a few seasons ago.
“So, that is certainly motivating and proof in the pudding that it can be done. We have the resources, so there is no reason why we can’t do it.”
The decision to leave Red Bull without securing a drive at Mercedes or Ferrari means Ricciardo will not have a potential championship winning car at his disposal.
And when asked if he was frustrated at failing to land a move to the top two constructors on the In The Pink podcast, he said: “Yes, to answer it bluntly.
“At the end of the day in the next 12 months I still think, and everybody would say this, that Mercedes and Ferrari are going to be the teams to beat.
“I won two out of six, so it was Seb [Vettel], Lewis and me who had won two each. At that stage no one else was really touching us.
“I felt like my pull, so to speak, couldn’t have been any higher. In a way, I did expect probably more out of that, and at the time I think rightly so.”