Daniel Ricciardo reveals who he feels is his most underrated

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo reveals who he feels is his most underrated

This one might surprise you

Sam Hall

Wednesday 15 April 2020 14:01

Daniel Ricciardo labels 2009 world champion Jenson Button as the most underrated driver that he raced against in Formula 1.

Alongside drivers who were never given a shot in a potentially race winning car, Ricciardo says that Button never got the praise he deserved, particularly singling out the Briton for his ability to drive in the tricky wet-dry conditions.

"How can a world champion be underrated? Hear me out...," wrote Ricciardo.

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"Jenson had some big years in F1, but I think 2011 when he was teammates with Lewis at McLaren and beat Lewis fair and square - that's not easy to do as we all know - was what gets him onto my list.

"He beat him on 'real' circuits like Suzuka, and his race pace that year...he was at his best in 2011, I reckon.

"Jenson did it a bit differently to most of the others too, he had a good crew around him and he was low-key, low-maintenance and just a smooth, silky operator.

"He's still the best I've seen in those not-quite-wet, not-quite-dry conditions, that sketchy weather. And that win in Canada 2011 - two races before I started my career, actually - was one of the best F1 races ever."

Also making his list were Sauber and Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT driver Vitantonio Liuzzi and Manor driver Roberto Mehri.

Included for a different reason was Jules Bianchi, Ricciardo writing that he was not necessarily underrated, but that he never got the opportunity to show just how good he was.

"You think of his drive in that Marussia in Monaco in 2014, the team's first points...," wrote Ricciardo. "Monaco is like Macau in that there's no way to fluke a result there, it was absolutely on merit."

Honourable mentions went to Robert Kubica, Ricciardo saying that he would like to have taken on the Pole prior to his rallying accident and also to Paul di Resta, a driver with abilities that the Australian compared to Button.