Is Ricciardo succumbing to pressure? 'In the races he just doesn't succeed'
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- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo has been struggling in Formula 1 for several years. His speed from his time at Red Bull, seems to be gone. He is also failing to beat Visa Cash App RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Helmut Marko is not satisfied with this and is quite clear about what needs to be done.
Daniel Ricciardo left the Red Bull Racing team in 2019 to drive for Renault's factory team. After two years and little success with that team, the Australian left for McLaren. There, he was completely beaten by Lando Norris and lost his seat there.
After serving as a reserve driver for Red Bull for six months, the Australian returned to the grid in mid-2023 as Nyck de Vries' replacement. The 34-year-old driver from Perth was just unable to show much of himself that season as he broke his metacarpal at Zandvoort.
Ricciardo's performance is not good enough
Still, it is already pretty clear that Ricciardo is struggling to beat his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. The always-stern Helmut Marko is obviously not happy about that. The Red Bull advisor told Sky Germany that during the winter tests in Bahrain, the differences between the two VCARB drivers were not great. Only in the races did Ricciardo fail to make ends meet.
In Melbourne, Marko told Motorsport-Total that ''we have to see'' what will happen to Ricciardo. Meanwhile, rumours are already circulating that an ultimatum has been issued towards the Australian. If he is not going to perform, Liam Lawson will take over his spot. Marko sees an obvious problem. "Every driver sees each other's data. There are, therefore, no secrets. They have the same car. Everything is the same. Daniel (Ricciardo) has proven in the past that he is a fast driver. It is something in his mind." To dance to Marko's tune, it is imperative that Ricciardo starts performing at least on par with Tsunoda.