August 27, 2023 - Zandvoort, Netherlands
Source: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images
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AAAHHH!!! MILOU!!!! MILOU ANSWERED ME FROM ASTON MARTIN STORE 😭😭😭😭💚💚💚💚
LANCE TEDDY IS COMING, EVERYBODY!!!!!! THE TEDDY BEARS WILL HOLD PAWS!!!!
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Why Daniel Ricciardo Really *Really* Needs To Do Well in Australia
He said he has nothing to prove but many (Helmut Marko) would disagree
Daniel Ricciardo was all smiles while being interviewed in a domestic terminal in Australia. As he should be. Going back home to Perth before having his home race so early on in the season is exactly what he would want right now. Comfort. Security. Familiarity.
Especially since those three things are the key parts missing in his F1 career right now.
A renowned late-breaker, Daniel was well suited to Red Bull’s cars that were aerodynamically superior and with a focus on the front end. Hence why they suit his driving style; there is no need for heavy breaking or understeer. As per McLaren’s cars which were rear-end focused and required such breaking.
Whilst Daniel Ricciardo’s lack of adaptability can be a source of criticism unto itself — isn’t a marker of a good driver that they can adapt? — it’s almost excusable. Daniel Ricciardo never belonged in a McLaren! Blue is his colour, not papaya. It’s just the car, the team. He was “unrecognisable” from all the “bad habits” he picked up being away from his ‘home team’ at Red Bull.
So, of course, it was inevitable that he did come back to Red Bull.
Inevitable in the sense that the “soft spot” Christian Horner has for Daniel Ricciardo is evident in how, despite Max Verstappen’s performance in 2017, Horner was still willing to compromise on the ‘lead driver’ model Red Bull so often adopts. 2018’s move to Renault was a shock in more ways than one; “we gave him everything he wanted,” was the line Horner gave.
Daniel’s comeback was two fold and staggered all the same. He was in the infamous ‘marketing role’ (that evaded a proper official title) for Red Bull Racing — which helped promote the awkwardly lacklustre pairing of Max Verstappen and Checo Perez — before infamously replacing Nyck De Vries for 2023’s AlphaTauri. However, it was staggered by the wrist injury from a collision with the other Australian driver. The one who replaced him at McLaren. The one who can adapt to McLaren’s break earlier/rear-end style of car that Daniel never seemed to adapt to.
A style of car that the likes of Liam Lawson drove — and outperformed — in spectacular drives when he replaced the injured Ricciardo late last year.
So where does this leave our Australian Honey Badger? He’s demonstrated the wider Paddock that he isn’t very skilled in adapting to cars, he’s lacking in driver confidence — which is crucial for late-breaking, a fundamental to his successful overtaking — and is being outperformed by both Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez. As in, the two people he needs to beat to resume his seat next to Max Verstappen.
Daniel started 2024 topping Bahrain FP1 to now finishing both races at the back end of the grid. The race this weekend in Australia is going to have a massive spotlight in him. And this is not just because his face is plastered everywhere as the Australian GP markets the shit out of the charismatic face of F1. He really, really, really will need to do well to show that the last two races were just him off to a rocky start, that this is not the end.
Because if it is, it really will be the end.
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lewis: without you seb, we're just three idiots in formula 1 at the same time.
mick: you make us a family.
sebastian: well, i'm like the cool rebel sibling of course.
charles: no, you're the mom.
lewis and mick: yeah, definitely the mom.
charles: look, seb, if you come back to us, i'll let you clean my room.
sebastian: deal.
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