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Former F1 driver Christian Albers feels Daniel Ricciardo's underwhelming start to the 2024 F1 season can get a bit irritating as he continues to maintain a jovial nature in the media. The Australian returned to the sport last season with the aim of proving himself and replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull.
The start of the season, though, hasn't gone his way. The driver has been completely outperformed by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in all three races. Daniel Ricciardo has especially struggled in qualifying, where he has found it difficult to extract performance from his car.
Talking to the media after the race in Australia, Daniel Ricciardo sounded hopeful of a better run in the coming races, but former F1 racer Christian Albers isn't impressed. Hinting that Ricciardo isn't focused on the racing bit and is too distracted by other things, Albers told De Telegraaf podcast:
“What irritates me a little bit is that he keeps laughing and doing activities around driving. Just focus on the racing. Only then can you start being funny again.
"As a driver, you want to go into hiding until you have beaten the rest, and then you can show yourself again. With him it is the other way around. All those activities are just painful.”
Albers backs calls for Daniel Ricciardo to be replaced by Liam Lawson
Albers reckons it couldn't be more clear that replacing Daniel Ricciardo with Liam Lawson would be the right call.
The New Zealander impressed last season when he was called to replace the injured Ricciardo. In a stint that lasted only a few races, Lawson impressed enough, and many felt that he would keep the seat.
Talking about putting Lawson in RB, Albers wondered the fear in making the move. He said:
“I don’t understand what the fear is about this choice. I just don’t understand it. Let’s be honest: Lawson beat Yuki Tsunoda in those few races.
"And Tsunoda has consistently been stronger than Nyck de Vries and Daniel Ricciardo. I don’t see this going well with Ricciardo. He just doesn’t have it anymore. He just has to make sure he beats the others. I just don’t think it’s fair."
Ricciardo has not had the best of starts to the 2024 season. In the first three races, his performances haven't been the best. Nevertheless, the season has only begun, so it's too early to jump to conclusions.
