FORMULA ONE world champion Jacques Villeneuve brutally questioned why Daniel Ricciardo is still in the sport in a rant that left fans astonished.
Eight-time Grand Prix winner Ricciardo, 34, has struggled in his RB car so far this season, failing to outperform team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in all but one of the eight races.
It continues a trend of several difficult years for the Australian – who struggled at McLaren despite winning in Monza in 2021, before he failed to secure a seat for the start of the 2023 season.
And 1997 F1 world champion Villeneuve, 53, pulled no punches in his assessment of Ricciardo’s recent form.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “Why’s he still in F1? Why?
“We are hearing the same thing now for the last four or five years. ‘We have to make the car better for him’. Sorry, it’s been five years of that. No, you are in F1.
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“Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton whose won multiple championships. You don’t make that effort for a driver who can’t cut it.
“If you can’t cut it, go home, there’s someone else to take your place. That’s how it’s always been in racing, it’s the pinnacle of the sport.
“There’s no reason to keep going and to keep finding excuses, and you all talk about that first season or first two seasons, he was beating a [Sebastian] Vettel that was burnt out, that was trying to invent things with the car to go win and just making a mess of his weekends.
“Then he was beating for half a season [Max] Verstappen when Verstappen was 18 years old, just starting, that was it, he stopped beating anyone after that.”
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When asked if he thinks Ricciardo is overrated, he added: “I think his image has kept him in F1 more than his actual results.”
Reacting to the clip, one fan said: “Just witnessed a murder on live TV 💀.”
Another added: “Spicy Jacques. Love it!!”
While a third replied: “Lol this guy woke up and chose violence 😂.”
And a fourth responded: “Not scared to speak his mind. We need more commentators like this.”
Ricciardo will race his 250th Grand Prix in F1 this weekend when the lights go out in Montreal.
He was considered one of the favourites to partner Verstappen next season in what would have been a dream return to Red Bull – where he won seven races between 2014 and 2018.
But his drop off in form saw him fall away from the conversation, before Sergio Perez signed a two-year extension to keep him with the constructors’ champions.
Daniel Ricciardo’s career in F1
Hispania Racing
Ricciardo made his F1 debut at Silverstone in 2011 for Hispania Racing, finishing 19th, before he went on to race 10 more times that season.
Toro Rosso
He began his first full season in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2012, securing six top 10 finishes including in the opening race of the season in Australia.
Ricciardo finished the year six points behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne in the drivers’ standings.
He then secured seven more top 10s in the 2013 season, beating Vergne by seven points.
Red Bull
Ricciardo joined Red Bull for the 2014 season where he would race for five years, winning seven races.
He finished the 2014 and 2016 seasons in third place in the drivers’ standings behind only the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Ricciardo also finished ahead of four-time world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel in two of their three seasons together.
Renault
Ricciardo signed for Renault in 2019 and finished his two seasons with the team in ninth and fifth.
He beat team-mates Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon, before he was snapped up by McLaren.
McLaren
Ricciardo’s eighth and most recent Grand Prix victory came at Monza in his first season with McLaren.
Yet despite that victory, he finished his two seasons with the team well adrift of fellow McLaren man Lando Norris and was released at the end of the 2022 campaign.
Red Bull reserve and AlphaTauri
Without a seat for the 2023 season, Ricciardo became Red Bull’s reserve driver behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
When Nyck de Vries was then released by AlphaTauri in July, Ricciardo raced eight races for the team with a best-place finish of eighth.
RB
AlphaTauri became RB in 2024 but Ricciardo has struggled so far this season, finishing no higher than 12th in the opening eight races.
He sits on five points while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda is flying on 19, four places above him in the drivers’ standings.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
