Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo cannot explain his current form and is completely in the dark in his analysis of the British Grand Prix
Daniel Ricciardo has no explanation for his current form in the 2024 Formula 1 season. After finishing 13th in the 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Racing Bulls driver is at a loss
More: Ricciardo is practising gallows humor when he says: “Hopefully we’ll find a big hole in my car that we’ve missed so far, but which turns out to be the reason why we were really slow.”
Because not much came together for Ricciardo at Silverstone: P15 in qualifying, seven tenths behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda, and outside the top 10 in the race, although Tsunoda still finished in the points in tenth place with the VCARB 01.
“Yuki did well,” says Ricciardo appreciatively. “But as a team we weren’t very competitive this weekend. I certainly struggled more in the race. And so far I’m not sure why that was. “
Impression and lap time don’t match
For him, the cockpit perspective does not match the values on the stopwatch, says Ricciardo. At Silverstone, for example, he “felt he put in a good lap”. “But my engineer told me I was eight tenths of a second behind. I was quite surprised.” And Ricciardo has not yet received and/or found an answer to his questions.
“My engineer once asked me: ‘What are you missing? What do you need?’ Then I said: ‘Actually, the balance is fine. I just don’t think we have enough downforce. Because the laps themselves are pretty good, apart from a few minor things perhaps. But just what the car can do. “
“So something was missing,” says Ricciardo. “Maybe we didn’t get to the point with the set-up. Maybe there’s still something we don’t understand yet.”
In any case, the picture on the track was clear: “Other cars got away from us on the straights,” says Ricciardo. “Sargeant [in the Williams] has pulled away from me and Albon has passed Yuki. “
Has Racing Bulls not developed well enough?
That’s why he and his team feel a bit “exposed” by the recent Grands Prix on fast tracks. “In addition, other teams have brought some good updates. That is also the reality,” says Ricciardo.
Haas, for example, made a positive impression in Spielberg and Silverstone: Nico Hülkenberg achieved sixth places twice in a row. “And suddenly our buffer in the constructors’ championship is no longer there,” says Ricciardo. “Things can change very quickly in this sport. You simply cannot rest on your laurels. “
That’s why Racing Bulls is doing its best to keep up with the Formula 1 development race in the 2024 season. And the latest updates have “worked really well”, says Ricciardo. “But perhaps they haven’t achieved as much as we had hoped. But that’s not because we didn’t try.” In his view, it is therefore important to take the “right step” on the technical side.
“It’s not about banging your fist on the table. We are doing it all constructively, even if there is a certain amount of frustration,” says Ricciardo. “We are trying to stick together. Because the situation is also motivating when you see that Haas has obviously found something. So then there is something you can find. “
Tsunoda hopes: Everything will be better in Hungary
Or is a simple change of location enough to get Racing Bulls back on track? Tsunoda seems to think so. He also sees “things we need to work on”, but is relying above all on being able to bring out “our strengths” again on the “slow track” in Hungary. He believes that his team’s aerodynamic disadvantage will not have as serious an impact there as it did at Silverstone.
The fact that he still scored a point, especially with the older version of the underbody, is “satisfying”, says Tsunoda. “We didn’t expect that based on the free practice session.” After all, P13 by Ricciardo in practice had been the highest of feelings for the team from Faenza in Italy.
“So the positive thing about this race was that we were able to maintain or close the gap to the faster cars. That was enough to finish in the points in the second half of the race in dry conditions. “
