Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies does not believe that Ricciardo is no longer performing – but the team must “give him a car he feels comfortable with “
Daniel Ricciardo has been criticized after the first three races of the new Formula 1 season. While team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh at the Australian GP, the Australian once again failed to score points in twelfth place at his home race. Despite emerging rumors that Ricciardo only has two races left to prove himself, team boss Laurent Mekies insists that he is still fully behind Ricciardo.
“The truth is that we need to give him a car that he feels more comfortable with,” the Frenchman tells Motorsport.com, “Yuki had a car that he felt very comfortable with from the first practice session.”
“We probably only reached that stage in qualifying with Daniel [Ricciardo], and you have to build from there. And we have the feeling that he definitely did that in the race,” believes Mekies. Unfortunately, Ricciardo started from 18th place in Melbourne after his last lap in Q1 was canceled due to a violation of the track limits.
This made the starting position for the race considerably more difficult. “He was just as fast today as the guys who finish in the points,” praised Mekies after the Australian Grand Prix. “So we could have fought for the points with a better starting position. “
Strong race, but no points
“Another positive aspect is the fact that Daniel also had a very strong race, even though he started from the back of the grid.” So the situation in Melbourne was not quite as bad as Ricciardo himself was annoyed after the weekend, even if the results speak a different language.
“I think he misinterpreted the data a little,” says Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer. “We looked at what we saw together with him. And ultimately I also take positives for Daniel, because he found his pace again in qualifying. I think if he had been able to do that lap on Friday, he could have built on it. “
“And to be honest, I’m sure he would have been in the top 10 in qualifying as well. So we just have to take that with us. It’s difficult on Sunday because in terms of traffic, how you manage the race and where you position yourself, it’s also a track where it’s not easy to overtake.”
“Honestly, he did a good job, a solid job, and we know we can build on what we’ve seen here,” believes Bayer,