How Ricciardo’s F1 experience played a part in his downfall

Racing Bulls racing director Alan Permane believes Daniel Ricciardo utilizing his System 1 expertise to ‘overthink issues’ performed an element in his downfall final season.

Ricciardo returned to the group [then known as AlphaTauri] halfway by way of the 2023 marketing campaign as a substitute for Nyck de Vries, although a damaged metacarpal sustained in follow for the Dutch Grand Prix saved him out for 5 races.

The Australian retained his seat with the newly named RB group alongside Yuki Tsunoda for final season with the purpose of turning into Sergio Perez‘s successor at Crimson Bull, returning to the seat he as soon as held alongside Max Verstappen which he abandoned on the finish of 2018.

However after a spate of poor performances – break up solely by a surprising fourth within the Miami Grand Prix dash race – Ricciardo was ultimately shuffled out for Liam Lawson, who has since develop into Verstappen’s Crimson Bull team-mate.

Requested if he knew why Ricciardo struggled with the VCARB-01 automobile, Permane informed Autosport: “Actually no.

“I don’t know and he doesn’t both. We sat down and talked, tried to determine it out. I used to be actually fearful that he was overthinking issues – he was involved concerning the tyres, that they couldn’t address the pace he could be asking of them.  

“It felt like he was utilizing his big expertise to second-guess issues that doubtlessly weren’t appropriate, as a result of Yuki wasn’t and he was driving as fast as he might and it was working.  

“That was a troublesome time after which after all we went to Miami and Daniel put it fourth on the grid [for the sprint race]. And also you suppose, ‘Ah, it’s all clicked.’ That was the Daniel I knew at Renault.  

“You try this within the dash on Saturday morning, then you definitely go for [grand prix] qualifying within the afternoon and he’s 18th. It was a little bit of a thriller, truthfully.”

Ricciardo had been on the sidelines earlier than rejoining the Faenza-based outfit having been let go by McLaren on the finish of 2022, the primary yr of the present regulatory period.

Lewis Hamilton has additionally discovered it troublesome to proceed his driving type with the ground-effect automobiles, particularly in qualifying, whereas up-and-coming drivers have seemingly thrived. Whether or not it’s a case of the championship’s veterans failing to return to grips with the automobile’s specifics, Permane replied: “I don’t know, is the trustworthy reply. I actually don’t suppose so.  

“Have a look at Fernando [Alonso] in Spa final yr. He was immense, unimaginable. I do know it’s a handy factor to say with individuals like [Franco] Colapinto coming in, [Oliver] Bearman… and definitely Franco regarded superb in his first few races.

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Workforce, and Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing

Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photos

“Nevertheless it’s very troublesome – one of many issues we mentioned on the time was that it’s nice when a driver is available in and does that, however doing it each week, that’s the arduous factor.  

“In the event you have a look at his [Colapinto’s] final couple of weekends, he hasn’t fairly been so… in Mexico he was excellent though he didn’t qualify so nicely, then Brazil after all wasn’t significantly good, Las Vegas not good both.  

“I feel to maintain that degree week in, week out, for these younger guys, that’s the place it will get robust. There’s a large quantity they must do away from the monitor as nicely, so that they’re not simply left to take a seat with engineers and deal with that.

“There’s all kinds of PR stuff which comes with System 1 now, and I’m fairly certain these younger guys aren’t used to, so there’s distractions in all places. However there’s little doubt that they’re spectacular, that’s for certain.”