Daniel Ricciardo will need to recover from a disappointing start to the 2024 season if the 34-year-old wants to maintain his hopes of joining Red Bull. Ricciardo, who made a surprising return to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri in the middle of 2023, aims to rejoin Red Bull in 2025. However, the Australian driver had a lackluster beginning to the 2024 season with two unsatisfactory outcomes. Now, former F1 world champion Alan Jones has expressed concerns about Ricciardo’s future prospects.
Jones acknowledged that Ricciardo was in a challenging situation as he was outperformed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the first two races. The 77-year-old urged his fellow countryman to improve his results and put on an impressive performance in the upcoming races. Jones emphasized that the 8-time race winner cannot remain stuck in the middle of the F1 pack.
Furthermore, the former F1 champion admitted that, in his opinion, Ricciardo’s best days in Formula 1 were behind him. The 77-year-old pointed out that Ricciardo had driven several competitive cars throughout his career. Jones believed that it was crucial for Daniel Ricciardo to outshine his competitors in order to secure his future in the sport.
Ricciardo had two disappointing seasons with McLaren in 2021 and 2022. The 34-year-old attributed his underwhelming results to the characteristics of the car used by the Woking-based team. As a result, the 8-time race winner agreed to part ways with the team before his contract expired.
Alan Jones argued that Daniel Ricciardo cannot repeatedly blame the car for his disappointing performances. The 77-year-old emphasized that this had been a recurring tendency for the 34-year-old, particularly during his time at McLaren. Ricciardo had cited flaws in the VCARB01 for his mediocre performance at the Saudi Arabian GP this season.
Certainly, Daniel Ricciardo remains determined to return to a top team in F1. However, the 34-year-old is currently at a disadvantage after two dismal rounds. Consequently, Ricciardo will be aiming to turn things around in the upcoming races to once again prove his value. It remains to be seen if Ricciardo can achieve a satisfactory result at his home race this weekend.