Following his mid-2023 signing with AlphaTauri, Daniel Ricciardo is entering into his thirteenth season in Formula 1 with the newly rebranded ‘Visa Cash App RB’ team (formerly AlphaTauri). He will be using this VCARB stint as a launching pad to secure Red Bull’s second seat in 2025.
While Daniel Ricciardo is totally focused with VCARB at the moment, one ex-World Champion has spoilt the Australian’s mood with his recent comments.
Ex-World Champion slams Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 performance
Daniel Ricciardo–the present Visa Cash App RB or just ‘RB’ team driver–is one of the longest-performing drivers in the current Formula 1 roster, and is entering into his thirteenth F1 season with confidence to bring out fantastic results with the team.
Despite being one of the few experienced drivers around, ex-F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has claimed that Ricciardo’s longevity in F1 is solely due to his public image, and not his performances.
In an interview with Bet Ideas, the ’97 F1 champion opened up his thoughts on this by saying, “Ricciardo is a pure product of image and modern social media. You can’t base his long career on results. You just can’t. They don’t stack up.”
Emphasizing on his words, the Canadian added, “It is amazing. He can thank Netflix and all that kind of stuff. His smile, his attitude in the paddock in front of the camera.”
“Ultimately even against [Yuki] Tsunoda he doesn’t do brilliantly. But he brings value to F1 and that’s why he is there. There are many drivers who are as quick as him but don’t have his image. So, you might as well take the one with the image,” Villeneuve concluded.
Villeneuve’s words come at a time when Ricciardo is showing sparks of getting back to his best. He just the recorded the fastest lap time of FP1 at 1min 32.869s—0.369s faster than Verstappen’s 1min 33.238s. Prior to the practice sessions, the Australian also put forth impressive performances at the pre-season testing, covering the 3rd highest mileage (210 laps; 1136 km) at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Daniel Ricciardo wants to be a F1 driver, not entertainer
In an interview last year, Daniel Ricciardo emphasized on his ‘public image’ when questioned about his ‘marketing and PR’ sessions, and maybe even subtly replied to Villeneuve as well.
Reflecting on his ‘Drive to Survive’ persona, he started by saying, “I think just me with my personality, and also just having some fun with the sport. Yeah, that probably got a little bigger as well, because of that. It draws a few LOLs every now and then.”
Expressing his own views, he added, “I think generally, first and foremost, I certainly see myself as a race car driver, not an entertainer or anything like that.”
Talking about his break from F1, he added, “Having a little bit of that time off, it certainly made me kind of just figure out what I’m about, I guess, moving forward and how I want to go racing.”
“Probably just removing a few things and kind of going back to a little bit of the basics. And yeah, just making sure that I am seen as a race car driver who’s still hungry and determined and not someone who’s just here for a good time,” he concluded.
Daniel Ricciardo will be showing more sparks on the 2nd of March at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Can Ricciardo really get back to his best this season? Can he finally shut off Villeneuve once and for all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
