Daniel Ricciardo will need to recover from a disappointing start to the 2024 season if the 34-year-old driver wants to keep his hopes of joining Red Bull alive. Ricciardo, who made a surprising return to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri in the middle of 2023, aims to return to Red Bull in 2025. However, the Australian driver had a lackluster start to the 2024 season, with two unsatisfactory results. Now, former F1 world champion Alan Jones has expressed concerns about Ricciardo’s future prospects.
Jones acknowledged that Ricciardo was in a challenging situation, as he was outperformed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the first two races. The 77-year-old driver urged his compatriot to improve his results and put on an impressive performance in the upcoming races. Jones emphasized that the 8-time race winner cannot afford to be stuck in the middle of the F1 pack.
Furthermore, the former F1 champion admitted that, in his opinion, Ricciardo’s best days in Formula 1 are behind him. The 77-year-old driver pointed out that Ricciardo had driven several competitive cars throughout his career. Jones believed that it was crucial for Daniel Ricciardo to stand out from his competitors to secure his future in the sport.
Ricciardo had two disappointing seasons with McLaren in 2021 and 2022. The 34-year-old driver attributed his below-par results to the characteristics of the car used by the Woking-based team. As a result, the 8-time race winner agreed to part ways with the team before the end of his contract.
Alan Jones argumenta que Daniel Ricciardo ne peut pas continuellement blâmer la voiture pour ses performances décevantes. Le pilote de 77 ans a souligné que cette tendance a été récurrente pour le pilote de 34 ans, en particulier pendant son temps chez McLaren. Ricciardo avait cité des problèmes avec la VCARB01 pour sa performance médiocre au GP d’Arabie Saoudite cette saison.
Certes, Daniel Ricciardo reste déterminé à revenir dans une équipe de pointe en F1. Cependant, le pilote de 34 ans est actuellement en difficulté après deux courses désastreuses. Par conséquent, Ricciardo cherchera à inverser la tendance lors des prochaines courses pour une fois de plus prouver sa valeur. Il reste à voir si Ricciardo parviendra à obtenir un résultat satisfaisant lors de sa course à domicile ce week-end.
