Jacques Villeneuve has responded after Daniel Ricciardo's performance in Canada and said that this was "one qualifying", demanding more consistency from Ricciardo. Earlier, the Canadian was quite brutal in his verdict of the Australian driver as he questioned what the driver was doing in F1.
The comments were made on Friday, and since then, Daniel Ricciardo has had a strong practice session on Saturday and qualified in P5 for the F1 Canadian GP. Post-qualifying, Daniel was questioned about the comments that had been made about him by Villeneuve, to which the Australian had some strong words for the Canadian.
When questioned about the comments Daniel Ricciardo made about him, Jacques Villeneuve pointed at the performance of the Australian and said that while this was a strong result from Daniel, he needs to do this every weekend. On Sky Sports F1 broadcast, Villeneuve said,
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"He needs the push, the pressure, and it paid off. It’s working well, the car suits him this weekend and when you have a car that suits you, you drive at your best. That was one good qualifying. If he can carry on this weekend like this then do four, five, six more races like that, then he’ll be fine. But like he said, he’s been lacking consistency this year.”
He added,
“Even during this whole season, it’s been a tough season, and he keeps getting a chance so he needs to show it on track. Today was a good qualifying, he needs to carry on.”
David Croft had also jokingly mentioned Jacques Villeneuve in the Sky Sports live commentary and said Daniel should pay him a bonus for the motivation. He said,
“Daniel Ricciardo needs to pay Jacques Villeneuve a bonus for the motivation he’s given him this weekend. That is by far Ricciardo’s best qualifying day of the season so far.”
Daniel Ricciardo's reply to Jacques Villeneuve
After qualifying, when Ricciardo was questioned about Villeneuve's comments, he acknowledged that he'd heard parts of what had been said about him. The Australian said that the Canadian was talking sh*t but that was something he always did anyway. He said,
“I heard he’s been talking s**t. But he always does. I think he’s hit his head a few too many times. So I don’t know if he plays ice hockey or something. I won’t give him the time of day but all those people can suck it. I want to say more but we’ll leave him behind.”
Daniel Ricciardo will be starting the 2024 F1 Canadian GP in P5. The driver managed to outqualify a Mercedes, an Aston Martin, and even both Ferraris. This was also only the third time this season that Daniel has outqualified Yuki Tsunoda.
After eight races, Daniel Ricciardo has 5 points compared to 19 in the championship for Yuki. And as Villeneuve remarked earlier, Daniel will be hoping to bring consistency in his performance and produce these results more often.
