Things Not Going To Get Any Easy For Daniel Ricciardo

Truth be told, the recent Canadian Grand Prix of 2024 was a bit of a revelation for a certain Daniel Ricciardo. Not only did he begin from fifth on the grid, which was undoubtedly his and the Visa Cash App RB team’s best qualifying result of the year, the Australian driver finished a strong eighth in the end.

What was rather interesting was that right before the start of the Grand Prix at Montreal, Ricciardo came in for some bitter criticism at the behest of former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian lamented the mere presence of the Perth-born driver going as far as remarking, “why is he (Ricciardo) even in F1?”

Rather dramatically, Ricciardo’s strong race result at Canada prompted a slew of social media reactions, with the RB driver himself using something close to colourful language for his detractor.

Having said that, in what appears a bit of a dramatic news, it is becoming apparent that Ricciardo might not have the smoothest of times where it comes to his imminent F1 future. As a matter of fact, none other than Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has stated that the experienced Australian might have to work really hard to retain a seat at the “RB team”.

In the course of the recent past, talks began to gather steam that one might get to see Daniel Ricciardo at the senior Red Bull racing team once again. However, talks quickly dissipated not long after the rumours began.

Since then, Ricciardo, who has thus far been clearly outperformed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda, has found himself in the rough. Not treated well by the media and coming in constant criticism, the man who won famously at China, Monaco and Hungary among other destinations has had to face a particularly hard time.

Moreover, Christian Horner also shared the fact that Ricciardo is himself aware of the pressure he finds himself coping and that “he knows that he has to deliver”. The Englishman was speaking to leading sports broadcaster, Sky.

But then life for the skilled, if also struggling, Daniel Ricciardo is about to get only tougher in the light of several other talented drivers rising through the ranks. Someone like a Liam Lawson, who scored points upon his high-octane and surprise F1 debut (Singapore in 2023), is fast catching up.

On the other hand, there is a gaggle of young racing talent that is eager to break through the glass ceiling and reach the pinnacle of Motor Racing called Formula 1.

What Ricciardo needs to do is to go quicker than he currently is during qualifying and hopefully, aim for- and complete- as many race results inside the top ten. But will it actually happen? Only time will tell.