RB accepts playing ‘big part’ in Daniel Ricciardo’s downfall in 2024
RB's boss Laurent Mekies accepted the team's shortcomings which ultimately caused Daniel Ricciardo's downfall in the 2024 season.
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Daniel Ricciardo (via IMAGO)
Daniel Ricciardo‘s final few years in Formula 1 were nothing short of a rollercoaster ride due to the massive changes in teams. The Aussie received the final opportunity to race for Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri (currently RB) after replacing Nyck de Vries mid-season in 2023. Ricciardo started well but couldn’t keep up with performances and was ultimately sacked from the team mid-way through the 2024 season.
RB showcased a mediocre performance in the chassis as Daniel Ricciardo failed to score good results. Ricciardo still attempted his best and could score a few glimpses of great results in the 2024 season. RB’s boss Laurent Mekies declared that the Aussie still produced ultimate speed on a few occasions like in Miami and Canada.
The question we have been asked the most was: Can Daniel still produce the ultimate speed we have seen? I think he has on a few occasions, in Miami, in Canada [fifth place in qualifying] and in quite a few other races. So, he did produce that ultimate speed that took him to race wins in the past.
Laurent Mekies told Autosport
Mekies acknowledged the fact that being the fastest on the grid was one of the most difficult tasks for the drivers. Moreover, the RB Boss accepted that the team didn’t always put Ricciardo in the ‘sweet spot’ to score well. The Frenchman revealed that the team raised their hands which ultimately caused the Honey Badger to exit the team.
But for the team, as for the drivers, the biggest difficulty is not to be fast one day. It’s to be fast in every race. Did we manage to keep Daniel in that sweet spot often enough? No, that’s the reality. I raised my hand and we raised our hands as a team, because we have a big part to play in it. And this led to what happened.
Laurent Mekies added
Daniel Ricciardo’s technical feedback gave a ‘huge benefit’ to RB’s development
Daniel Ricciardo despite not scoring well provided great insight into the technicalities of the chassis development. Laurent Mekies claimed that Ricciardo’s insight was a huge benefit for Yuki Tsunoda and the team. The RB boss further suggested that having a driver who knew how a championship-winning team works was highly beneficial.
There was a huge benefit for the team and for Yuki in terms of Daniel’s technical feedback, direction of development, race-winning approach, having somebody that knows how it is in a team that wins races, that fights for championships, is setting the benchmark and that counts a lot in a time where you are trying to build the team and target better results, That benefit has been huge.
Laurent Mekies noted
RB has already signed Isack Hadjar as the new driver replacing Liam Lawson in the coming season alongside Tsunoda. 2025 might be difficult for the team due to a rookie racing during their trying times. Regardless, the coming season will be extremely interesting and exciting for the fans and drivers alike.
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Aditya Pandya
(1388 Articles Published)