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Daniel Ricciardo's former teammate Jean-Eric Vergne feels that the Australian's dream of becoming a world champion has receded since his Red Bull exit.
Vergne was Ricciardo's teammate at Torro Rosso. With Mark Webber on his way out at the end of the 2013 season, Vergne and Ricciardo were in a straight shootout that season for a place in the senior Red Bull team.
It was Daniel Ricciardo who earned his promotion to Red Bull for the 2014 season. There, he beat Sebastian Vettel in his first year to establish himself as one of the best drivers on the grid. With the arrival of a generational talent like Max Verstappen in 2016, though, Ricciardo started losing ground.
He eventually moved from Red Bull to Renault in the 2018 season. Since then, the Australian's career has not gone the way he would have expected, and the possibility of winning the title is all but over. Vergne said:
“It’s been a long time, I haven’t talked to Daniel. When I was racing with him, he was clearly one of the fastest teammates I’ve ever had. And I don’t really know what happened to him, I mean, from the moment he decided to leave Red Bull, I think things have not gone his way really, and the chance of being one day World Champion, which is always what he wanted, is probably slipping away more and more."
Vergne added that it's sad to see Ricciardo lose his seat at McLaren, but he understands the team's decision, saying:
“And although I find it sad the parting ways with McLaren, I also understand Zak Brown’s decision to make room for improvement for the team, understanding that it didn’t bring the result that the team was expecting.”
Ahead of the Singapore GP next month, Daniel Ricciardo (19) is in 14th place in the driver standings. He's too far behind his seventh-placed teammate Lando Norris (88).
Something's gone wrong with Daniel Ricciardo - Damon Hill
Talking about the predicament Daniel Ricciardo finds himself in, Damon Hill feels something has gone wrong in the Australian's pursuit of finding a fast car. He said:
“Danny’s been such a fantastic character for our sport, effervescent and always smiling and stuff, but something’s gone wrong. Not only in his pace at McLaren, but also in his strategy for getting himself in a competitive car. Something fell through the cracks there, and let’s hope he comes up smelling of roses somewhere, and we see him back at the front.”
Hill added that team managers would be in a quandary over whether to take a punt on Ricciardo if they look at the contrast in his performances before and during his McLaren stint. He said:
“I think there is some logic to that. If you’re at least with a top team, even if you’re in the wings and waiting for the right opportunity, you will have information that is useful to another team perhaps, potentially. But every team manager would be looking at him and everyone, every team, will be looking at him and asking ‘where’s the pace gone? Is it coming back?’ And that’s the big question mark. We don’t know.”
Daniel Ricciardo now faces an uncertain future in the sport and is likely to take a sabbatical for the 2023 season.
