The decision that doomed ‘broken’ Ricciardo

Formula 1 podium finisher turned pundit Martin Brundle says Daniel Ricciardo’s misery can be traced back to leaving Red Bull at the end of 2018.

Ricciardo spent five years at the Milton Keynes squad, twice finishing third in the drivers’ championship in 2014 and 2016.

For a spell, the West Australian was the lead driver at the squad. However, the arrival of Max Verstappen early in 2016 saw the momentum shift towards the F1 prodigy.

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Ricciardo soon felt the team was being geared toward his Dutch teammate and by the end of 2018 decided to leave and join Renault.

Success was not forthcoming at the Enstone outfit. In 2019 he went without seeing the podium and recorded his worst finish in the championship since 2013 with Toro Rosso.

While 2020 showed promise, by the time he scored his first podium he had already signed with McLaren for 2021 and beyond.

His first season with the legendary team was solid if unspectacular. 

A surprise win at the Italian Grand Prix didn’t discount the fact that teammate Lando Norris had outperformed him over the season with four podiums to Ricciardo’s one.

Come 2022, it only got worse. Only four of the 13 races before the summer break were points-scoring.

Now, Ricciardo finds himself without a place on the F1 grid in 2023 after he and McLaren confirmed they would part company at the end of this season.

Ricciardo is said to have options on the table, including a possible return to Alpine pending the outcome of Oscar Piastri’s contract saga.

It all stems back to 2018 when he decided, wrongly in Brundle’s eyes, to leave Red Bull.

“I’m not enjoying watching Daniel,” said the Sky Sports F1 commentator.

“It’s painful, isn’t it? I consider him a friend and I rate him massively as a person and as a racing driver. 

“I said to you [Natalie Pinkham] yesterday if I was McLaren I would have been doing the same thing because he’s struggling to get pace and you can’t take that for another 18 months. I would have done exactly the same thing. How they’ve done it, they’ve made an agreement, this is a tough business. 

“Daniel didn’t convince me in that interview with Rach[el Brooks] there that he wants to stay on the grid, that he wanted to go to Alpine, or anywhere else. I think he potentially does, but I saw a bit of a broken man, I didn’t see ‘I’m going to win a race this year. I am going to be on the grid next year. I’ll show them they’ve made the wrong decision here’.

“He shouldn’t have left Red Bull, that’s how it looks to me. The Renault move was the wrong move for him. He didn’t fancy staying around what he thought was team Verstappen, which there was an element of truth in that. It’s just played out badly all the way along, hasn’t it?”

In the aforementioned interview with Sky Sports F1, Ricciardo said he is not happy but has come to terms with the fact that his McLaren tenure did not work.

The 33-year-old pinpointed an inability to gel with the MCL36 and inconsistent progress towards a package that suited his driving style.

Nevertheless, Brundle is optimistic that given the right equipment, Ricciardo can return to front-running contention.

“He’s lost his mojo,” said Brundle.

“When I see Daniel starting outside the top 10 and running outside the top 10 all afternoon, that’s not him and that’s not where he’s at. 

“We know he’s better than that and I find that painful to watch. I can’t imagine how painful it’s been for Daniel to be in that car falling backwards through the field. 

“Maybe it’s all a bit of blessed relief all around and it’ll come back around and show his mettle.”

Ricciardo qualified 11th for the Belgian Grand Prix but will start seventh after a slew of grid penalties were applied.

The 14th race of the Formula 1 season gets underway on Sunday at 11pm.

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