RICCIARDO WORRIES RED BULL AMID A BAD STREAK
Ricciardo’s recent struggles at McLaren and now at VCARB have taken everyone by surprise and are hard to accept. How is it possible that a driver with eight Grand Prix victories has such a poor performance? Tsunoda, backed by Honda, has outperformed him since they became teammates last year, after the failed experiment with Nyck de Vries.
Statistics show that Ricciardo is not much better than the criticized Dutchman when compared to Tsunoda’s performance. This fact not only confuses Formula 1 fans but also Red Bull.
During an interview with Laola, Marko referred to Ricciardo’s poor form: “We are all puzzled by this. He is always slower than Yuki. Something always happens to him, which is surprising because he seemed to be doing well during F1 testing. But right now, Yuki is clearly faster. The question is: Has Yuki become a rising star or is Daniel just that weak? After three races on three completely different circuits, we still don’t have objective answers.”
With promising young Liam Lawson waiting in the wings at Red Bull, Marko told reporters in Australia: “Both drivers have access to each other’s data, so there are no secrets. They have the same car. Everything is equal. It usually comes down to the mental aspect for the drivers.”
This is the same conclusion McLaren reached two years ago when they paid Ricciardo to leave the team a year early to make room for Australian rookie Oscar Piastri. It turned out to be the right decision.
Red Bull made a mistake in welcoming back their prodigal son, who couldn’t stop talking about how much he wanted to be Verstappen’s teammate again while undermining and aiming to replace Pérez, who was photographed smiling next to him.
The discomfort persists, with the only difference being that Pérez has stepped up his game while Ricciardo remains just a shadow of his former self. He is in the F1 grid for his marketability, not because he is fast. That speed disappeared years ago, just ask McLaren.
As for Pérez, Marko praised the experienced Mexican driver for his performances in the Red Bull #11: “It is worth noting that Checo has had three good races out of the four this year. The only reason he fell behind in Melbourne was due to damage to the floor and tire degradation. His only weakness is in qualifying, but if he can improve there, there is no cause for concern. The atmosphere in the team is very positive, including his contribution.”
