OPINION: Daniel Ricciardo must let go

Daniel Ricciardo will always be able to hide behind his time canceled for non-compliance with track limits, the observation is clear. The Australian was eliminated from qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in Q1, while his teammate RB Yuki tsunoda climbed into Q3 (8th on the grid).

For the third time in as many GPs this season, veteran Ricciardo is subjected to the law of his garage neighbor in the flying lap exercise. If the Japanese's top speed is evident from his first laps, we are still entitled to expect much better from Ricciardo, self-proclaimed candidate for a return to the parent company Red Bull Racing (RBR).

With the exception of an excellent 2020 campaign with Renault (5th in the Drivers' Championship), the driver from Perth (Australia) no longer really demonstrated what had made him a world-class talent during his first visit to Milton Keynes (between 2014 and 2018).

Recruited at great expense by the French manufacturer in 2019, Ricciardo had a mixed start in yellow. Barely had he started to regain his splendor when he made the choice to leave enstone and Viry-Châtillon for McLaren, even before the start of the 2020 season.

If this transfer allowed him to taste victory again at the 2021 Italian GP (and to supplement his income), the lively Australian, an endearing personality in the paddock, almost never compared with his new teammate, Lando Norris.

Daniel Ricciardo has been struggling since the start of the year. / © DPPI

Paid not to ride

Ricciardo's setbacks were such that McLaren preferred to pay him so that he would not honor his third and final year of contract in 2023, and replace him with his compatriot Oscar piastri. Fallen pedestrian and simple Red Bull reserve, the eight-time Grand Prix winner took advantage of the difficulties of Nyck de Vries in Alpha Tauri to advance his pawns and sign his return to the elite last summer.

The communication machine was perfectly oiled, the papers to his glory were written with his little finger on the seam of the pants, and the declarations of Christian Horner, RBR team principal, were laudatory. We had finally found the real Daniel, the one who had thrilled us at his peak at Red Bull. Sergio Pérez, then in complete discomfiture facing Max Verstappen, could tremble!

If Ricciardo's return was thwarted by a nasty wrist injury suffered in Zandvoort (Netherlands) and a five-race withdrawal, the Australian hardly sparked in the second half of the 2023 season.

Except for an excellent weekend in Mexico (4th in qualifying, 7th in the race). Enough to maintain the mirage that “Honey Badger” had found the sacred fire again and justify its extension to 2024 at the expense of an astonishing Liam Lawson, who had nevertheless shown much more in five replacement meetings.

Oscar Piastri (r.) embodies the future (and present) of Australia in Formula 1. / © DPPI

To be and to have been

Since the season kicked off in Bahrain, the cold reality of the numbers has set in. To be on par with Tsunoda would already have been a disappointment for Ricciardo, without wanting to insult the Japanese dragster. So get eclipsed...

The Australian will always be able to hide behind his canceled time in Q1 in Melbourne to say that he had the means to access the next segment. Even if Ricciardo had kept his best time, it remained quite significantly slower than the mark set by Tsunoda. Not to mention that the 34-year-old veteran is almost the only one to have been pinched for “track limits” at turn 4.

Last year, the unfavorable comparison with Tsunoda precipitated the fall of Nyck de Vries and his replacement by Ricciardo after just 10 short races. If the Australian benefits from a much higher rating than the Dutchman due to his track record and his “bankable” personality, his credit is not inexhaustible. Especially with Lawson in the garage...

Australian fans in any case seem to have already moved on if we judge by the sea of ​​orange caps seen in the aisles of Albert Park to support the new darling Piastri (rightly so given the performances of the young man 22 years old).

Perhaps Ricciardo will fool me by rediscovering what made him such a fun and electric talent in the past. His performances since 2021 just don't argue for such a scenario. In this case, wouldn't it be better to stop the costs? F1 is merciless, we saw it again this weekend at Williams. As friendly and endearing as he is, does Daniel Ricciardo still have his place among the 20 best drivers in the world? Asking the question is already answering it.