EXCLUSIVE: F1 winner hints at KEY reason for Ricciardo ‘struggle’
EXCLUSIVE: F1 winner hints at KEY reason for Ricciardo ‘struggle’
Daniel Ricciardo’s recent dip in form has left team bosses puzzled, but could there be a specific reason for his struggles?
The eight-time race winner has failed to match the pace of his team-mates since he joined Lando Norris at McLaren, and most recently Yuki Tsunoda at VCARB.
READ MORE: Ricciardo admits regrets after hoodwinking fans
Despite winning a race for McLaren at Monza in 2021, Ricciardo was replaced with Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season.
Luckily he reunited with his former team, Red Bull, who helped him back into F1 when a seat became available at AlphaTauri midway through 2023.
READ MORE: Horner Red Bull saga given fresh update ahead of Chinese Grand Prix
Ricciardo’s struggles revealed
The once master of late braking manoeuvres is now a shadow of his former successes, with suggestions he could lose his current F1 seat.
In 2024 thus far, his teammate Tsunoda has managed consecutive Q3 appearances and scored points in the past two races, whilst Ricciardo has zero points.
Speaking exclusively to GPFans, former F1 winner Johnny Herbert has hinted at the reason for Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles, particularly at McLaren.
Discussing the similarities between champions Michael Schumacher and Max Verstappen, Herbert emphasised how important simulation work is to a modern F1 driver’s performance.
“I remember Michael used to do a little bit of sim work at Ferrari. And he was quite sick when he was doing that. So he really suffered doing the sim work.
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“When Max does it without problem whatsoever when he’s doing the Formula 1 sim. But also when he's doing his racing sims like Lando Norris as well. And it's a skill that has become a seventh sense in Formula 1,” Herbert said, speaking on behalf of InstantCasino.
“They’ve gotten better as time has gone by, but they are very, very much now an important part of a driver's feel with the car itself. Not a feel with your fingertips, but a feeling within your brain, your brain adapts to it without thinking about it.
“I think Daniel Ricciardo when he was with Lando at McLaren, for example, suffered, because Lando was the ‘sim man’. And Daniel wasn't. And I think that's where the struggle was.”
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
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