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If we read the F1 media discourse against Daniel Ricciardo in 2024 prior to the Chinese GP, then it might appear that the Australian is on his last legs in the sport.
Ricciardo was looking forward to the 2024 F1 season as this was going to be an opportunity to impress Red Bull and possibly challenge for Sergio Perez's seat. Looking at the first four races, this had clearly not happened.
The Aussie has not had the best of starts to the year. In his head-to-head comparison with teammate Yuki Tsunoda, he was 4-0 in qualifying and only finished ahead of him once in the races.
When you add all that up, you have a picture that doesn't look too pretty for Daniel Ricciardo. He's a strong driver, but media discourse suggests that the driver has been given far too many chances, and Red Bull has already issued an ultimatum to him.
With just four races done, the discourse raised a big question. Was the F1 media and fanbase too harsh on Ricciardo? Let's see what the data suggests.
How did Daniel Ricciardo vs Yuki Tsunoda pan out in 2023?
Qualifying: 5-3 (Daniel Ricciardo)
Average Gap: 0.31 seconds
Races: 5-3 (Daniel Ricciardo)
Ricciardo joined AlphaTauri at the F1 Hungarian GP last season. He made an instant impression by outqualifying and outperforming Tsunoda in the very first race. Overall, he didn't get too many races to show what he could do and was also plagued by a wrist injury that forced him to sit out of a few races.
Despite that, if we look at Ricciardo's comparison against Tsunoda, we see that the Australian held a decent edge in both qualifying and races. Was it definitive? No, it wasn't, but it was surely a sign that with more testing and more time to adapt to the car, Ricciardo could do a good job.
There were clearly some issues ailing Daniel Ricciardo
Both Tsunoda and Ricciardo had a few issues with the car in the F1 Chinese GP. The latter was not happy and was almost incredulous at the laps that his Japanese teammate had put together in the qualifying sessions.
It also appears (although it's not conclusive yet) that the new chassis has made a difference. Ricciardo looked far more comfortable in the car in China. He was clearly the faster driver over the weekend and whether that has anything to do with Tsunoda struggling or not will become clearer in the next few races.
What is clear, though, is that a few things were not perfectly aligned for Ricciardo, and that played a role in his struggles.
Four races is too early to pass judgment
Using one brilliant Ricciardo performance to pass a judgment is futile and that holds true for jumping to conclusions after just four races too.
Going forward, it is important that at least fans and F1 pundits take a step back and not jump to premature conclusions, even if there is evidence to support it. In Ricciardo's case, we had seen the Australian be more or less a match for Tsunoda when he did not even have enough time to get used to the car.
In 2024, the first four races were a bit of an anomaly, and what comes next in terms of how Ricciardo performs is going to be very interesting.
To sum it up, it's safe to say that the premature conclusions made by the F1 media were not ideal.
