Ricciardo does nothing special during ‘notice period’

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo is on notice to regain his mojo before the Miami Grand Prix or face the chop from Racing Bulls.

As first reported on the Auto Action website, Daniel Ricciardo has been told to lift his performance by the Miami Grand Prix or he will be replaced by Kiwi Liam Lawson for Monaco.

The ultimatum believed to be delivered by Red Bull Racing director Helmut Marko could mean Ricciardo needs to outperform teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished in the points in Melbourne while our man was fighting for the scraps after losing a qualifying lap that would have got him out of Q1 because of a track limits breach.

But the ultimatum is more complex than that. If Ricciardo had made it out of Q3 and qualified further up the grid, his race wouldn’t have been sacrificed for Tsunoda as he tested a tyre strategy.

Ricciardo was one of two drivers (Hamilton was the other) to start the race on the soft C5, and then switched to the hard C3 on Lap 5 and then changed them for another set of hards on Lap 29 for the run home.

Only Albon who stopped on Lap 27 for the run home and George Russell who went from Lap 8 to Lap 45 ran longer stints on the hards. Half the field ran a medium, hard, hard strategy

Post-race, Ricciardo looked like the ultimatum was weighing him down after a tough day, with the little of the verve that has made him one of the most popular drivers in the field evident.

“I don’t really know how far we could have got through the pack, but obviously, when you’re at the back, you’re going try something and it certainly wasn’t silly,” he said of starting on the soft tyres.

“When I saw Hülkenberg start on hards in front of me, I thought that was a bit more of a gamble, but I guess that paid off for him.

“I was actually quite surprised, his pace on that one was pretty good.

“I feel like we were the first on the hards, and there was a VSC and straight after that and then we opened up the graining, so that stint we were losing time.

Once I cleared Ocon, maybe in an Alpine, I was able to get into the low 21s and at the time, that was really competitive, and then, we got blue flags and whatever after that. There were certainly some moments where it does look more encouraging.

“Even then, I still have some comments for the team. When we are going fast, there’s still some things that I feel I’m missing, but certainly a little bit more encouraging and just we’ll keep chipping away.”

He said his issues with the car were not about his confidence in it and generally it was behaving OK, he just isn’t able to get it to carry the speed that his teammate can at times.

His flatness post-race was because he thought he’d get more out of the car at his home race.

“I came into this weekend really, honestly, deep down believing like we were going to have a very good weekend. In terms of the noise, people tell me in the media, they’re, “Oh, so and so said,” and it’s the first I’ve heard.

“No disrespect to you guys, but I know that I’m on this little process or journey at the moment and I just need to focus on myself and if I let any of the noise in, it’s going to distract me from the path I’m on. I haven’t let any of that maybe negative stuff creep in.

“I also understand that I didn’t expect to start the season like this. In Budapest last year, I drove the car a day before and then I outqualified Yuki and has a really strong race and with no knowledge.

“All the races last year, I honestly thought that this year, we would start a lot stronger.

“Not only me, but a few people are wondering why. The important thing is that I stay on course. It’s not that my head is filled with nonsense or anything. I honestly feel good.

“Just unfortunately, the results haven’t made me feel awesome, but deep down behind the wheel, I do feel good and excited and just want to keep racing.

“I’m sure I’ll find a bit more in myself and I still believe maybe we’ll find a little something from the car.”

With Japan this weekend, he won’t have the distraction of the home crowd, that pressure shifting to his teammate for the weekend. He said over time he has become better at managing the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

So far this season, five drivers – including Ricciardo – have been outqualified in very race by their teammate. Ricciardo has made it to Q2 twice and was eliminated in Q1 in Melbourne after setting a time good enough to get him through, but lost it through track limits. He has failed to score a point this year while Tsunoda has the six points he earned in Australia.

In Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the RB pair finished in consecutive spots, with Ricciardo leading in the first race and Tsunoda the second, indicating that his race pace has been good so far and that he just needs of a bit of the elusive luck.

Daniel Ricciardo Grand Prix Data

Starts: 242

Wins: 8

Podiums: 31

Pole Positions: 3

image by Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

2024 Japanese Grand Prix

Friday, April 5

Practice 1: 13.30-14.30

Practice 2: 17.00-18.00

Saturday, April 6

Practice 3: 13.30-14.30

Qualifying: 17.00-18.00

Sunday, April 7

Grand Prix: 15.00

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