McLaren and RB Sackings Find Origin in Same Weakness That Daniel Ricciardo Failed to Overcome

When McLaren announced in 2022 that they were letting go of Daniel Ricciardo in favor of his compatriot Oscar Piastri, it was far from a shocking move. Apart from his win in Monza in 2021, Ricciardo wasn’t able to deliver on the promise that brought him to McLaren in the first place. And the reasons for his exit from RB are similar.

The biggest reason for Ricciardo’s continued failure at McLaren was his inability to adapt to the characteristics of the team’s car. All the cars that he had driven before had pointy front ends and loose rears, which allowed him to attack the corners early and carry momentum through the corners.

In a recent video reflecting on Ricciardo’s career, Edd Straw from The Race highlighted how the 2021 McLaren required the exact opposite style of driving as the Honey Badger’s, which he ultimately failed to adapt to. By the end of the 2022 season, McLaren realized this lack of adaptability and let him go with one year still remaining in his contract.

“The tricky to drive McLaren in 2021 was a car that Andrea Stella, then McLaren’s executive director of racing, characterized as responding best to a driving style that Ricciardo was at the opposite end to,” Straw explained. Many then believed that the 2022 regulations would bring the cars close to Ricciardo’s comfort zone.

However, that was not the case. “The introduction of the current ground effect cars moved the generic tendencies of F1 cars as a whole away from Ricciardo’s comfort zone,” Straw added.

A year later, AlphaTauri (now RB) brought Ricciardo back on the grid after they sacked Nyck de Vries midseason. Since Ricciardo showed some signs of improvement, they decided to give him a contract for 2024.

However, since the inherent qualities of RB’s ground effect car are similar to McLaren’s 2021 car, Ricciardo struggled again and eventually got the sack. With him having been let go yet again, Ricciardo has hinted that he will perhaps never return to the sport he loves so much.

Ricciardo speaks about why he might never return

It was pretty much clear at the start of 2024 that this was Ricciardo’s last chance to prove himself, and no one wanted it to work out more than he did. But it seems that he has come to terms with not being able to deliver consistently.

Reflecting on his last stint in F1, the Honey Badger mentioned that perhaps he can no longer compete at the level of the younger drivers every single time. He said (as quoted by PlanetF1),

“Maybe that is a little bit of an age thing. I think it definitely came easier for me when I was 25 as opposed to 35, but also maybe the competition is just increasing. I think that’s probably a common thing with all sports: simulators are getting better, the kids are getting younger, so naturally they’re [more prepared]”.

He also explained how he no longer enjoys fighting to just barely make it out of Q1 week after week. Hence, he wants to leave the sport with the memories of what he was once able to achieve in a Formula 1 car.