RB System 1 staff principal Laurent Mekies has mentioned the staff has collectively taken duty for failing to make Daniel Ricciardo’s last stint on the squad successful.
Final summer season Ricciardo was given a second likelihood by Pink Bull as an skilled back-up choice to probably substitute Sergio Perez on the important staff.
His preliminary RB cameo in 2023, instead of underperforming Nyck de Vries, was derailed by a hand harm sustained in a apply crash on the Dutch Grand Prix.
However regardless of having benefited from a full low season to organize for 2024, the veteran Australian nonetheless discovered it arduous to seek out constant efficiency within the VCARB 01. Ricciardo confirmed flashes of his previous self at instances, together with with a stellar dash race in Miami with fourth place, however was usually outperformed by Yuki Tsunoda on the staff.
With Ricciardo not becoming the factors to warrant a possible Pink Bull return, the staff finally determined to drop him after the Singapore Grand Prix for reserve driver Liam Lawson, who has since accomplished sufficient to persuade Pink Bull that he is a better pick than Tsunoda to become Max Verstappen’s new team-mate from 2025.
Reflecting on why issues did not work out with Ricciardo, RB staff boss Mekies has mentioned the staff is collectively taking duty for not having the ability to give the 35-year-old a automobile he might construct momentum in.
Talking solely to Autosport, Mekies mentioned: “The query we’ve been requested essentially the most was: ‘Can Daniel nonetheless produce the last word velocity we’ve seen?’ I believe he has on a couple of events, in Miami, in Canada [fifth place in qualifying] and in fairly a couple of different races. So, he did produce that final velocity that took him to race wins previously.

Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB 01, leads Sergio Perez, Pink Bull Racing RB20, and Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Pictures
“However for the staff, as for the drivers, the most important issue is to not be quick at some point. It is to be quick in each race. Did we handle to maintain Daniel in that candy spot typically sufficient? No, that is the truth. I raised my hand and we raised our palms as a staff, as a result of we’ve a giant half to play in it. And this led to what occurred.”
Not directly, Ricciardo’s difficulties ended up benefitting his substitute Lawson, in addition to Tsunoda, because the staff poured over each information level to discover a resolution for him, which widened the scope of set-up choices the Anglo-Italian staff explored with its drivers.
“We have now explored a big a part of the automobile’s envelope with Daniel,” Mekies defined. “It is a unending course of. You do that each time you’ve got a brand new replace, or each time you’ve got a brand new attribute. However definitely, Daniel pushed us to discover that envelope, and it gave the engineering staff an excellent background of what the automobile would and couldn’t do.”
Mekies additionally hailed Ricciardo’s contribution to the staff’s growth work, as his expertise helped RB because it launched into a technical reorganisation all year long.
“There was an enormous profit for the staff and for Yuki when it comes to Daniel’s technical suggestions, path of growth, race-winning strategy,” Mekies added. “Having any person that is aware of how it’s in a staff that wins races, that fights for championships, is setting the benchmark and that counts rather a lot in a time the place you are attempting to construct the staff and goal higher outcomes.
“That profit has been enormous, additionally when it comes to automobile understanding and automobile growth. And I believe Yuki has been growing a very good relationship with Daniel to the extent that he has been capable of soak up various that and to maintain progressing himself in that space.”
On this article
Filip Cleeren
System 1
Daniel Ricciardo
RB
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