Daniel Ricciardo is bemused by his failure to score a strong result over the first three races of 2024.
The veteran RB racer is one of seven drivers yet to score their first point of the year. He scored his best finish, 12th, at the last race in Melbourne, having failed to progress beyond Q1 in qualifying.His team mate Yuki Tsunoda scored RB’s first points of the season last time out in Australia in seventh. Ricciardo has only finished ahead of him once in the opening three rounds, at the first race of the season in Bahrain. On that occasion, Tsunoda was asked to move over for Ricciardo towards the end of that race as they were running different strategies.
However Ricciardo insists he is feeling confident and comfortable in his new car for 2024. “It’s funny because, on paper, it hasn’t been good,” he told the official F1 channel. “I know obviously that as well the results haven’t been what I wanted, but personally and the confidence and the happiness and all of that is really unchanged.
“It’s really just a matter now of getting a result and putting a few things to rest. But internally and the place I’m in, personally, I feel really good. And that’s why it’s probably been a little bit weird to comprehend why the result hasn’t happened yet. But otherwise feeling good.”
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Ricciardo said he does not have any major difficulties with his car and that he has put considerable time into studying his data with his team.
“We’ve been putting a lot of work in off-track as well in the off weeks and trying to understand how much is me, how much is the car, what is it that maybe the car’s not giving me that I’m looking for and things like this,” he explained. “It’s really just small things here and there.
“I think what’s important now is, again, because we’re not in a place where we’re lost or I don’t feel good, I think it’s important for us just to focus on sitting down with my engineers and that’s it. We don’t start receiving suggestions from other people and ‘have you thought about this or do that’ because then you go down a rabbit hole that we’re certainly not willing already to go down.
“So it’s just really staying the course. Obviously it is frustrating, because I do want the results and I feel very prepared and I feel like I’m ready to get results. But we can’t get side-tracked by anything else, really.”
Ricciardo said he spent some time with family in friends in Western Australia after his home grand prix to help prepare for this weekend’s round in Japan.
“I was home for a little bit as well, that was nice, always nice to get home for a few days and come here refreshed,” Ricciardo said. “Obviously I can’t predict what’s going to happen this weekend but certainly, standing here now, I feel like I can make a good result happen.”
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
- “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
- Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
- Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
- Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
- Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year
Coventry Climax
4th April 2024, 17:18
Sounds like a repeat story of when he was at McLaren.
Igger
4th April 2024, 17:26
I didn’t rate the guy for a long time, even after beating Vettel, but he did put in some genuinely good performances between 2016-2018. The car suited him well and he had ample confidence in it, hence the exciting late braking, driving on the limit and general car control.
I feared him moving away from Red Bull would end up the way it did, except turned out way worse than I could’ve ever imagined. I believe he was too full of himself and got lazy along the way too.
For me his slump is more of an unfortunate return to his baseline form. Perez’s abysmal performance last year would’ve been the perfect opportunity to swap them around for a few races, then bid him farewell for good.
Casual F1 Watcher
4th April 2024, 17:40
Washed – get Lawson in.
kuvemar
5th April 2024, 9:07
As if we need any more unlikeable characters in F1.
NoelyNoel (@noelynoel)
4th April 2024, 17:52
“It’s really just small things here and there”
Adding up to quite a big thing at the moment. I hope he’s able to see the year out in this seat, but I’m not confident he’ll make it past the summer break unless he’s able to match Yuki over the next few races. Even one stand-out performance would benefit him greatly.
MichaelN
4th April 2024, 19:57
Indeed – he needs to change the narrative, and a good result buys him (increasingly valuable) time.
Trends are hard to turn around, though, especially if the reasons are “just small things”. I appreciate that the midfield is tight, and a couple of tenths can mean a boatload of places. But the season is three races in, and Ricciardo is a 10+ year veteran and multiple race-winner. He should be able to get on top of “small things” on day 1 in testing, not months into the season.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
4th April 2024, 18:03
I am totally baffled by his performance ever since he left Red Bull.
I was convinced that he was being held back by the Max bias within the team.
Most of his last minute, deep dive, overtakes in those days were pure racing thrillers.
I knew that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with when he made the move to Renault.
Shows how much I know :/
He has performed like an embarrassing novice ever since then, regardless of which team he has tried.
I loved the guy for both his driving and his personality, but now he is down amongst the Strolls and Sergeants of F1 for me as just wasting a seat that a Lawson or a Bearman could be shinning in.
Edvaldo
4th April 2024, 18:31
He was good at Renault. The cars were weak, in particular the first one, yet he pulled some great performances like Canada 2019. The 2nd year his good showings were so many i can’t even remember them all.
He only begin to look finished when he went to Mclaren.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th April 2024, 21:24
I never thought he was being held back by verstappen, I don’t really believe in number 1 and number 2 theories: the fastest driver gets number 1 no matter what, as leclerc proved with vettel; ricciardo was good at red bull, but verstappen was and is even better, I also agree with edvaldo that he was still doing well at renault, he occasionally beat the 2nd driver in the red bull, which was embarassing for said drivers.
SteveP
4th April 2024, 18:21
Easy mistake. I think there was one element you failed to consider in that one:- it was a Renault.
He drove a Red Bull and did OK, he drove a tractor and did not so well.
He drove a diva and fell short of the level of a driver less used to consistent cars – let’s be honest, the RBR then was consistently decent, and the Renault was consistently, erm, Renault.
Ross
5th April 2024, 1:27
Why are there stories about this same narrative every 2 weeks.
He was so so in the Torro Rosso, basically a coin flip between drivers to go into the RBR that even though it was underpowered suited his driving style. He was one of the top three drivers in a field that had a squadron of world champions racing along side, so he was beating world champions both as team mates and in other teams. So no he has never been overrated. At his peak in a car that he is comfortable with he is brilliant, RBR saw that at Silverstone last year, if they didn’t he wouldn’t be in the seat he is currently. He went to Renault because he trusted that they could produce an engine that they had been promising RBR for years, and RBR were headed to Honda, at which time had produced years of failure and one ok half of a year in a Alpha Tauri. The Renault at first was not great, it took 3 or 4 races to get to terms with it ( does that number ring a bell? ). They sorted out their set ups and if I remember correctly changed his brakes. Then he really started to push the team forward, beat Hulkenberg as a teammate who is no slouch, beat Ocon which doesn’t really say much more. But he managed to gather the team around him even when they knew he was headed to McLaren the next year. So yes he can be a lead driver that can bring a team together and raise the morale of a team (positive). Yes Renault can be seen as a misstep, but if the Honda had continued to fail it would’ve been a masterstroke. McLaren, a team who have known for years that their base concept is flawed. They’ve had multiple drivers tell them that their car is weird to drive, they hire a $50m asset, then fail to engineer the car towards his driving style, rather coaching him into oblivion. Ric is known to have been not the greatest technical driver, rather focussing on his natural talents. Instead of trying to change the engineering to suit the driver they just forced him to change. Coaching a driver in a track like Monaco, creates a delay in reactions and a lack of confidence that lead to him getting lapped at a track where previously he could dominate. McLaren wasted a $50m asset by being so stuck in their ways they refused to change (sounds like the Dennis McLaren is still alive and well). Side note, Norris has only ever driven a ‘weird’ Mclaren so what will it look like for him when, if, he ever drives something else.
RBR coached dan back into his natural way of driving and built his confidence again, but like the Renault, this years RB isn’t filling him with confidence that he needs right now. After 3 fly away races, so yes the team will make changes when they can. Lawson was ok last year, but if he was lighting the place on fire there is no way he wouldn’t have a seat. 24 races this season, we’ve had 3. Settle down.
Jungle
5th April 2024, 9:29
I think that’s a fair summary Ross….but he needs to step up soon or lick the stamp etc or move on…
Ross
5th April 2024, 9:49
I agree, but we don’t need 4 stories every race about his failures 3 races in.
JoshJ81
5th April 2024, 2:49
How about this headline…”Riccardo not really shocked at this performance because just the car and team just plain stinks, no one could win with it”
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
5th April 2024, 10:28
Unfortunately guys like Marko have too much control over what happens to Daniel, and RIC, isn’t as interesting to Honda or any of the sponsors at VCARB.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the team are hanging him out to dry in order to suck up more sponsor potential/other pay drivers. I am sure HRC are paying VCARB well enough.
Mayrton
5th April 2024, 12:58
I don’t have the detailed data the team has so can’t properly judge the situation. What I do know is that same rule apply for everyone; step up or step out. Little less smiling, little more action.
Ross
5th April 2024, 20:26
Why has everyone got a problem with the guy having a sense of humour. The fact that he still has a smile on his face should be praised not called out as some sign of lack of care.