As soon as Daniel Ricciardo was promoted to the senior Red Bull team in 2014, he immediately showed everyone what he was made of. He was beating the then reigning 4-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel, left, right, and center. He was so good in his debut season with Red Bull that he forced Vettel to leave the team in a way. And the Honey Badger only got better and better in the following seasons. And his last season with the Milton Keynes squad was probably the best in his career. If it weren’t for his miserable run of reliability issues with 8 mechanical DNFs, he would have turned out to be a proper title contender to Lewis Hamilton.

But, he was unhappy with how he was treated in the team compared to Max Verstappen, who was sort of the golden boy for Red Bull. And so, he left the team and went to Renault. And according to former Ferrari boss, Peter Windsor, that is where his downfall began. Even when the Aussie moved to McLaren in 2021, he was merely a dull image of his past self as he struggled poorly with the Papaya team. So much so that McLaren had to get rid of him by paying his 2023 salary in full.

And that’s when he decided to go back to Red Bull in the role of a reserve driver in 2023. And now, even when he’s back to the grid full-time with Red Bulls junior team, Visa Cash App RB, he is still struggling to get back to his peak form, getting beaten by the likes of Yuki Tsunoda, who would have been no match for him in his prime days.

And Peter Windsor minced no words in showing a mirror to the Aussie. He said, “I think I said from day one, the minute Daniel decided that he was going to leave the best team in Formula 1 i.e., Red Bull, because he didn’t like the way it was going with Max winning races and he, Daniel, not winning as much as he thought he would or could if Max wasn’t there. The minute he decided I am better off not racing for Red Bull rather than just living with it and looking at what I do well and still winning some races as Perez has done. He would have won more races than Perez if he stayed there for sure.“

“But the minute you made that decision, forget the money, forget Renault, forget McLaren, forget where he is now. That eats away at the soul of what you are all about as a human being. Because you’re turning your back on something that you’ve actually strived to achieve all your life. In other words, a great racing car. And he turned his back on that and that has this effect over a long period of time, I think, of taking away all the good things that you’ve got in your style in your motivation,“ he concluded.

Ricciardo, however, feels that his recent struggles with the car are completely different from what he experienced at McLaren.

Daniel Ricciardo is not short of confidence with the VCARB 01 as he was with the Mclaren

Ricciardo has always been the charmer of the F1 grid, with his infectious smile and personality. And he has been candid about his rocky start to the 2024 season. He discussed his struggles and expressed optimism about turning things around, determined to avoid a repeat of his challenging stint at McLaren. Speaking after his home race in Australia, Ricciardo highlighted the need for a thorough analysis of both his driving performance and the car’s behavior.

He emphasized the importance of understanding whether his struggles were self-induced or if there were issues with the car itself. One thing which he was sure about is that this was not a similar situation to McLaren, where he had literally lost his confidence. “I know how I feel, and maybe not everyone does, but it’s a very different situation to McLaren,” Ricciardo was quoted by Formula 1. “I think especially in 2022 I was running on very, very little confidence, I was kind of confused with the car and I didn’t really understand it. That was a completely different thing and this isn’t that.”

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What are your thoughts on Daniel Ricciardo’s future? Do you think he might get the Nyck de Vries treatment if he doesn’t start beating his teammate? Share your insights in the comments.