Daniel Ricciardo heads into this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix as a driver under pressure. The 34-year-old desperately needs a strong weekend to get his campaign truly underway.
Although the 8-time Grand Prix winner has shown very strong race pace to date, his qualifying performances have been disappointing and left him well out of position in Saudi Arabia and Australia.
F1 returns to Shanghai for the first time in 5 years. In 2019, Ricciardo was at Renault and had a breakthrough weekend with the team after tricky events at Albert Park and Bahrain.
He qualified P7 and finished P7, claiming the unofficial best of the rest victory behind the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls back then.
The driver from Perth is hoping to use China as a springboard to properly get his 2024 season going.
“I kind of look back at the years, I definitely had some good weekends here.
“And even 2019 with Renault. I remember Melbourne and Bahrain, I struggled at the start of that season. And then we came here to China and it was kind of that weekend like really kick-started everything for me.
“And I felt like from that weekend onwards, my Renault campaign got better.
“So, yeah, it’s good. And I think it’s a good time to come back here, because I’m looking for that little bit of a kick-start to the season.
“However the past has gone, there’s no guarantees or anything. But it is a place where I feel I can get things going.”
Since Saudi Arabia, Ricciardo has been pretty confident something is not quite right with his VCARB 01 as he was losing quite some time to Tsunoda in certain corners at Jeddah and Albert Park in qualifying.
This weekend he’ll get his hands on a new chassis.
“Yes, yeah. So that’s good [that I am getting it].
“Obviously I’ve been quite vocal about it because I’ve been struggling a bit this year.
“But I think also to be clear that it was always the plan to introduce that chassis here. I don’t know if anyone else is yet.
“But by race five, I was obviously just putting my hand up, ‘whenever it’s ready, I’ll take it’.
“So it was the earliest convenience. And I obviously said, ‘yeah, let me try it’. And Yuki’s happy with his, so that’s that.
“So it’s one little box just to tick now and make sure that we’re all OK and peace of mind.”
Although he admits that RB F1 has found nothing wrong with the chassis used in the first 4 races, Ricciardo wants to test out a new one to see if something was missed.
During a media session at the last round in Japan, he pointed to a chassis change at McLaren after his Monza win that hampered his performance in Sochi.
“Yeah, we’ll see. Let’s try something.
“Yeah, of course. We haven’t found anything wrong with what I had.
“But sometimes these things might be visible, might not. But, again, maybe it’s just to clear my mind and have it.
“Look, regardless, even if I had my old chassis, it doesn’t change my approach into the weekend. I still think I can make something happen.
“But it’s a little bit of something now that, I’m sure deep down it will help one way shape or form.”
The first Sprint weekend of 2024 sees a single practice session on Friday before Sprint qualifying later in the day. This is not something that worries Ricciardo.
In Japan last time out, the Australian missed FP1 as Ayumu Iwasa got a run as part of the mandatory running rookies must get during the season.
Nonetheless, Ricciardo produced his best qualifying of the season to date, missing out by 0.055s on progressing to Q3 as Yuki Tsunoda just pipped him.
“I think it’s going to be a good thing coming back here.
“I’m coming into every weekend still very positive and confident that I can do it. And I think it hasn’t happened yet to the level I’m expecting or wanting.
“I’m not kind of coming into a weekend feeling like, ‘oh, we’re on the back foot’, or, ‘oh, can I do it’? ‘can I not’? I definitely still have a lot of confidence that I can.
“We don’t have a full practice kind of weekend, but it’s not necessarily that I’m lacking like a lot with the car in terms of the feeling. So I don’t feel I need a whole week of practice to get up to pace.
“And the fact that it’s the same for everyone this weekend, I’m totally kind of comfortable and confident.
“I think, obviously, Suzuka I missed the Friday. And then it was, obviously, for me, I was a little bit on the back foot with just track time.
“But the fact that it’s the same for everyone this weekend, it’s good.”
An unsubstantiated rumour started by the NZ Herald a few weeks ago suggested Ricciardo had only 2 races to save his career after his performance in Australia. That turned out to be completely false.
Asked if he felt the need to go to the team to seek their full backing, Ricciardo said he did not as he continues to receive their full support.
The winner of the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix also explained how his own record is proof of what he can do as RB F1 back him.
“No, look, I haven’t. I think because I’m obviously around the team every day, so to speak, that I would hear it from them. You know what I mean?
“And, of course, I know that we’re not where we want to be. But I think everything that we kind of keep going back to each other is ‘we’re still in this. We’re on the path. We know what we’re doing’.
“I think as well, yes, I haven’t had a great start to the season. But I’m also not a rookie that’s trying to kind of establish myself in a sport and prove something.
“Obviously, I do have a track record, there is some proof there that I can do it. And the team believes this and knows I can.
“So it’s just trying to clean it all up and making sure that we can get it.
“I don’t want this to take a whole year. And I don’t expect it to, because on the one hand, I’m not a rookie. I’ve got experience. So that should also speak for something.
“It’s not like I’m trying to kind of show them something that they haven’t seen yet. We’re just trying to get me in a place where I feel I can deliver.
“So, yeah, they’re good. They’re sorted. They’re sweet. I obviously want to put in a performance not only for myself, but for them.
“But, yeah, there’s no additional pressure from, ‘shit, am I going to have a seat next weekend or anything’? It’s not anything like that.”
Following a very tough start to the campaign, Nyck de Vries was booted out of AlphaTauri after just 10 rounds. Ricciardo returned to F1 sooner than expected.
With Ricciardo trialing 0-4 in the qualifying head-to-head and 0-7 in points, the 34-year-old is someone who is facing a lot of scrutiny in some circles right now.
However, he’s not concerned he will end up in the same position as the Dutchman.
“No, there isn’t [any concerns].
“I mean, look, anything can happen. So I’m also not naive. But I haven’t had any indication of that.
“And I think they know, it probably goes back to a little bit of maybe what I did in the past.
“But I think they know, even last year, like I showed the signs of speed and everything that, maybe I didn’t always show with McLaren. So we felt like we got that back out of me.
“And, okay, for whatever reason, it hasn’t quite been there to its probably fullest so far this year. But I think they know it’s there.
“And also what we’re doing on the sim, like they can see that it’s there. So we’ve just now got to put it together.”
