Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he is proud of “good kid” Oscar Piastri despite having been replaced by the 22-year-old at McLaren in 2023. Piastri has impressed massively since taking over, with two podium finishes and a Sprint race win in his rookie year. While it is fair to say that Piastri’s career progression has been on the rise, the same is not the case with Ricciardo. He returned to F1 last year after a small break from the sport, but has struggled immensely since becoming a full-time driver again.
Despite this, Ricciardo recently revealed that he has no hard feelings when asked to comment on Piastri’s performance at the Australian GP last weekend. The Honey Badger said (as quoted by motorsportweek.com), “Yeah he (Piastri) seems to be an Aussie favorite! No, I’m happy“.
Ricciardo added, “I couldn’t get points, but Oscar did a great top four. He’s a good kid. The more time I spend with him, I like him a lot, and happy that he’s doing well for Aus“.
Piastri did have an outstanding race in Melbourne last weekend, finishing P4, just behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The majority of the Australian fanbase have been hardcore Daniel Ricciardo fans for the longest time, but watching a new star in Piastri get P4 and Ricciardo struggle down in P12 could lead to a big increase in support towards the former.
Ricciardo’s 2024 season has been off to a woeful start and his struggles continued after the outing in Albert Park. He started the race from P18 and finished P12 which was down to two retirements and multiple pit-stop errors for the drivers ahead of him. He remains point-less after three rounds so far, and things don’t look promising for the Perth-born driver.
Daniel Ricciardo continues to underperform Yuki Tsunoda
It is not just the lack of points scoring that has been a concern for Daniel Ricciardo. It’s his deficit to V-CARB teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is competing in only his fourth full F1 season this year.
Tsunoda established himself as the clearly better driver at V-CARB following his outing in Melbourne. He went into Q3, started the race from P8 and finished P7, grabbing six points for the Faenza-based outfit. This adds to speculation surrounding the Aussie’s future in F1, with some sources claiming that his days are numbered.
There are rumors that the 34-year-old could be sacked in the coming months. There are highly talented youngsters available on the market, with one of them being young Kiwi Liam Lawson. The New Zealand driver replaced Ricciardo for five races in 2023 as an injury substitute, and ended up outperforming Tsunoda too.
If Ricciardo fails to improve, Red Bull have a replacement in Lawson ready to take over at a moment’s notice.
