Always the protagonist in the Canadian GP, Jacques Villeneuve has once again made headlines for his comments on Daniel Ricciardo in sky sports. The 1997 F1 champion, who does not bite his tongue, has questioned the Australian’s continuity in F1: “Why are you still in F1? Why? We’ve been hearing the same thing for four or five years. We have to make a better car for him. Sorry, that’s five years of that. No, this is F1. You can make that effort for Lewis Hamilton, who has won many championships, but you can’t do it for a driver who can’t advance. If you can’t, go home. There is another one who can take your place. Racing has always been like this, this is the elite of motorsport.”
For the 53-year-old Canadian, who won eleven races in Formula 1, Ricciardo is not at his best level since he was a teammate of a newcomer Verstappen at Red Bull, almost eight years ago: “There is no reason to keep looking for excuses. Everyone says that in his first season he surpassed Vettel, but Vettel was burned out, having worse weekends. He then surpassed Verstappen for half a season, but Verstappen was 18 years old and had just started. From then on, he didn’t beat anyone else.”
In 2024, Ricciardo is 14th in the World Championship and has five points compared to Tsunoda’s 19 (10th). He arrived at Alpha Tauri last year in the middle of the season, today Racing Bulls, and it seemed credible that he could replace Pérez at Red Bull. But now Checo has secured his position until 2026 included, and the Australian’s future seems more a matter of inertia than of the results obtained. “I think his image has kept him in F1 more than his current results,” justifies a critic Villeneuve. Ricciardo achieved his eighth and final victory at the 2021 Italian GP, with McLaren. But his time in Woking was disappointing to the point that he did not fulfill his three-season contract, and his best times in the World Cup are far behind him.
