Daniel Ricciardo returned to AlphaTauri (now V-CARB) last season with the sole purpose of returning to the main Red Bull team. Now, that the Australian’s dream is getting closer to becoming a reality, he is seemingly developing cold feet.
When asked ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend if he has a chance of returning to Red Bull, Ricciardo replied, “Coming into Budapest, these could be two very important races. Going up [to Red Bull] is my dream. I’d love to return but then there’s talks of do I even deserve to be here”.
Rumors that Ricciardo could potentially join Red Bull emerged due to Sergio Perez’s continuous underperformance since the start of last year. While Perez is continuing to underperform even this year, Ricciardo has done himself no favors by not being consistent at V-CARB.
Daniel Ricciardo: “I still speak with Christian and Helmut on that side quite a lot. Alot goes through them, and other parts of the team not really. I speak to my engineers, etc. Last year, I was involved in their driver briefings and getting involved.”
1/2
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) July 25, 2024
The Australian has just scored 11 points so far this season compared to V-CARB teammate Yuki Tsunoda’s 22. However, not all of Ricciardo’s underperformance has come due to his own doing.
V-CARB’s poor strategy calls have also hurt Ricciardo
Last weekend’s Hungarian GP was the perfect case in point when a poor strategy call from V-CARB hurt Ricciardo. The Australian started the race from P9 but only managed to finish P12 because of pitting way too early from the mediums to the hards on his first stint.
When asked if he had pitted too early at the Hungaroring, Ricciardo replied, “You wondered right? I thought the same thing honestly as soon as I…you don’t want to pull into the pits. You get the call and you know this isn’t the thing to do. But you get the call late and there’s no time to question it, because then if you miss a lap, it’s even worse”.
Since Ricciardo came out in traffic, he revealed that he found it difficult to make up the ground he had lost due to his early pit stop. Moreover, since the 35-year-old stopped early for his first stint, he also could not push too hard on his new tires.
However, while Ricciardo again failed to score points in Hungary, Tsunoda impressed yet again. The Japanese driver finished P9 and scored two valuable points for V-CARB. As Ricciardo continues to underperform relative to Tsunoda, he could be questioning himself about whether he still has what it takes to perform at the highest level.
