Daniel Ricciardo says his RB team have benefited from the experience he brought when he joined them in the middle of last year.
He is the most experienced driver ever to race for Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team.“I’ve been in F1 a long time, driven a lot of cars, seen a lot of things,” he said in an interview for The Age, admitting he “underestimated” the knowledge he brought to RB.
“The team was struggling a bit at the time, and I could see that my experience was helping. The way the team responded to what I had to say, the questions they asked.”
“You realise with age that you have the power to change how a garage feels, how a team responds,” he added. “There’s hundreds of people that work with these teams, but you’re one of two people who the world watches to see how the team performs. We don’t just drive the car, we have the ability to alter the atmosphere in the room and that’s something I’m definitely more aware of.”
Ricciardo returned to the team last year, when it competed as AlphaTauri, having previously driven for it in 2012 and 2013 under its prior identity, Toro Rosso. He replaced Nyck de Vries, who failed to impress the team over his first 10 races last year.
Under its various identities, RB had a succession of junior drivers auditioning for a chance to join Red Bull. Ricciardo was one of a handful to make the grade, but left Red Bull at the end of 2018.
Having started 241 grands prix, Ricciardo is by far the most experienced driver to join the team. He is now partnered with Yuki Tsunoda, who is in his fourth season of F1.
At the season-opening round in Bahrain, Ricciardo said his 23-year-old team mate showed his “immaturity” by driving close to him on the cool-down lap in frustration over a team orders call which went against him. The pair have now smoothed things over.
“No one’s going to benefit from us having a rivalry or attention or anything like this from race one of a long season,” he said. “Especially when the team has new personnel. Everyone’s trying to pick each other up and build themselves and the confidence, we need to help them do that as well.
“What happened at the end of the race wasn’t great, but two hours later we walked out of a meeting [and] actually put the team in a better place than it was.”
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V. Chris (@vasschu)
18th March 2024, 12:33
This dude is already rehearsing his exit interview.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
18th March 2024, 16:28
nah, hes gonna wipe the floor with Yuki in the second half of the season. Yuki will target qualifying, Daniel will outscore him. Pure and simple. Yuki has been on that team forever, he should be beating DR regularly, but that will change very soon.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th March 2024, 12:40
Except he isn’t performing as well as he could or should, considering that experience factor.
Coventry Climax
18th March 2024, 12:49
Oh my, in the defense already.
So far, his speaking on track is about as convincing as Lance Stroll’s.
Shut up, race, and prove it on track, buddy, and you’d better be quick about it.
Provide your team with some results that are worthy to talk about.
Ross
19th March 2024, 7:26
Kind of hard not to be on the defensive when it’s two races in and people are calling him spent already. Likewise, it’s two races in, how is he supposed to better his results during weeks between races?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
18th March 2024, 12:53
Did he find he could still improve the atmosphere while Lawson was driving?
Ross
19th March 2024, 7:26
Probably, he was there pretty much every race.
isthatglock21
18th March 2024, 14:51
If the benefits are measuered in how much drivers smile, DTS exposure & marketing gimmicks, then yes, RB have done well.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
18th March 2024, 16:15
I found this quote the most interesting, referring to the downward spiral at McLaren. Seems kinda obvious but sometimes ppl gotta learn the hard way hehe
“It’s had a long-lasting impact. I got my energy and my excitement back by pushing a few things to the side, cutting out a lot of clutter.
”I wanted to be able to fall back in love with training again, but to train and to train well, you need to get some time back in your life to do that properly. You can’t do a million other things, because you have no window to train, and then maybe you’re not as strong or as healthy or as fresh as you should be, and it spirals.:
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
18th March 2024, 16:20
I do wonder how much he actually brings to the team in terms of setup and development. Some of his feedback would have been used to develop this years car and yet he’s not happy with it, whereas Tsunoda is ok with it even though the RB01 is clearly not that great.
I just find it really odd how at the start of the season he was telling us he was targetting top 5 finishes and possible podiums later in the year and he’s ended up qualifying 14,14 and finished 13,16. I’d like to know why he thought the RB would be so competitive?
Now maybe this is a blip and upcoming development and setup changes will result in much improved performance from himself and the team. But how long do you give him to prove he still belongs? The end of the year? The Summer break? De Vries was given 10 races which many said was a little too harsh for a rookie, doesn’t that mean even more is expected of Ricciardo?
Witan
18th March 2024, 17:23
Ricciardo looks more and more a sad case of self delusion.
SteveP
18th March 2024, 18:57
Oh dear, claiming credit for a small out of season improvement, on top of other smaller improvements that came from in season changes in 2023.
It couldn’t possibly be that the guy in the car in early 2023 and known for feeding back masses of constructive criticism could it? (see all the articles about Tost describing the amount of feedback and change suggestions from de Vries)
I mean, if you have to admit that the real changes stemmed from in season running/testing that you didn’t participate in, the bubble just bursts. Sorry, Daniel, I’m not buying the story.
Put him in the RB20 tomorrow, I reckon he has a good chance of coming second.
Dirk
19th March 2024, 8:13
Not sure why everybody thinks this guy is so likeable and good for F1. The guy is a past it/never had it and a bore