RB Method 1 crew principal Laurent Mekies has stated the crew has collectively taken accountability for failing to make Daniel Ricciardo’s remaining stint on the squad a hit.
Final summer season Ricciardo was given a second likelihood by Crimson Bull as an skilled back-up choice to doubtlessly change Sergio Perez on the most important crew.
His preliminary RB cameo in 2023, instead of underperforming Nyck de Vries, was derailed by a hand damage sustained in a follow crash on the Dutch Grand Prix.
However regardless of having benefited from a full low season to organize for 2024, the veteran Australian nonetheless discovered it arduous to search out constant efficiency within the VCARB 01. Ricciardo confirmed flashes of his previous self at instances, together with with a stellar dash race in Miami with fourth place, however was usually outperformed by Yuki Tsunoda on the crew.
With Ricciardo not becoming the standards to warrant a possible Crimson Bull return, the crew ultimately determined to drop him after the Singapore Grand Prix for reserve driver Liam Lawson, who has since accomplished sufficient to persuade Crimson Bull that he’s a greater decide than Tsunoda to grow to be Max Verstappen’s new team-mate from 2025.
Reflecting on why issues did not work out with Ricciardo, RB crew boss Mekies has stated the crew is collectively taking accountability for not having the ability to give the 35-year-old a automobile he might construct momentum in.
Talking solely to Motorsport.com, Mekies stated: “The query we’ve been requested probably the most was: ‘Can Daniel nonetheless produce the final word pace we’ve seen?’ I believe he has on a number of events, in Miami, in Canada [fifth place in qualifying] and in fairly a number of different races. So, he did produce that final pace that took him to race wins up to now.
Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB 01, leads Sergio Perez, Crimson Bull Racing RB20, and Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Pictures
“However for the crew, as for the drivers, the largest issue is to not be quick at some point. It is to be quick in each race. Did we handle to maintain Daniel in that candy spot typically sufficient? No, that is the fact. I raised my hand and we raised our fingers as a crew, as a result of we’ve a giant half to play in it. And this led to what occurred.”
Not directly, Ricciardo’s difficulties ended up benefitting his alternative Lawson, in addition to Tsunoda, because the crew poured over each information level to discover a answer for him, which widened the scope of set-up choices the Anglo-Italian crew explored with its drivers.
“We’ve got explored a big a part of the automobile’s envelope with Daniel,” Mekies defined. “It is a unending course of. You do that each time you could have a brand new replace, or each time you could have a brand new attribute. However actually, Daniel pushed us to discover that envelope, and it gave the engineering crew an excellent background of what the automobile would and couldn’t do.”
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Mekies additionally hailed Ricciardo’s contribution to the crew’s improvement work, as his expertise helped RB because it launched into a technical reorganisation all year long.
“There was an enormous profit for the crew and for Yuki by way of Daniel’s technical suggestions, path of improvement, race-winning method,” Mekies added. “Having anyone that is aware of how it’s in a crew that wins races, that fights for championships, is setting the benchmark and that counts rather a lot in a time the place you are attempting to construct the crew and goal higher outcomes.
“That profit has been large, additionally by way of automobile understanding and automobile improvement. And I believe Yuki has been growing a great relationship with Daniel to the extent that he has been in a position to take in numerous that and to maintain progressing himself in that space.”
On this article
Filip Cleeren
Method 1
Daniel Ricciardo
Racing Bulls
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