Daniel Ricciardo snubbed as F1 rival given sympathy vote

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Ricciardo snubbed as F1 rival given sympathy vote

The 2023 season will go down as a mixed one for Daniel Ricciardo

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Friday 5 January 2024 08:27

The Formula 1 season proved to be a mixed bag for Daniel Ricciardo in 2023, but following his return to the grid it will largely go down as a successful one.

The Australian started the season only as a Red Bull reserve driver, but returned to the cockpit midway through the campaign after replacing the struggling Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.

Yet, after just two races into his comeback the 34-year-old was sidelined again after breaking his hand in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

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It was awful luck for Ricciardo, yet fans have overlooked the eight-time grand prix winner when it comes to the GPFans awards for unluckiest driver of the season.

Instead the award went to Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, whose bad luck was beyond belief at times, with the fan vote in the GPFans awards going instead to him.

Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in practice ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo had only been back for two races before he was ruled out again

F1 fans have voted for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc as the unluckiest driver on the grid

Leclerc's season of woe

Lelcerc was left questioning whether he should visit 'Lourdes' to help turn around his fortunes at times, with perhaps his unluckiest moment occurring at the Brazilian Grand Prix when mechanical issues caused him to spin out of the race on the formation lap.

While Leclerc took 39 per cent of the vote, Ricciardo was in second place with a quarter of all votes.

There was sympathy for Sergio Perez too on 13 per cent who could only watch as his team-mate Max Verstappen crushed everyone on his way to a third straight world championship.

Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz earned eight per cent of the vote while propping up the shortlist with three per cent were Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Williams rookie Logan Sargeant.