SUMMARY
- Daniel Ricciardo is a driver for Red Bull's second team VISA CashApp RB.
- Jacques Villeneuve called Daniel an Image of F1.
Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian-Italian racing driver in Formula 1. He currently races for Red Bull’s second team CashApp RB, previously known as AlphaTauri. Ricciardo started his F1 career in 2011, Since then he has won Eight Grand Prix victories, but never secured a World Drivers Championship. The Australian driver can always be seen with a cheerful attitude.
Daniel is always seen with a smile and keeps messing with others in the paddock regularly. The 1997 World Championship driver Jacques Villeneuve said Ricciardo is kept in F1 for his persona and not his performance. Reportedly, Daniel is kept by Formula 1 for PR, and his charming personality over his driving skills. He has stayed relevant in the sport despite being a top driver.
Jacques Villeneuve called Daniel Ricciardo an image for F1
Jacques Villeneuve is a former F1 racing driver who dropped out to pursue a career in NASCAR and Touring Car Racing. Recently Jacques shared his thoughts about the Australian driver. He asked the driver to praise the Netflix documentary ‘Drive to Survive’ and social media for keeping him relevant for all these years. The former champion also called out his career stats for not having a good record.
Not a Daniel Ricciardo fan, eh…
Jacques Villeneuve: “You can’t base his long career on results. You just can’t. They don’t stack up.”#F1 #Formula1 #DanielRicciardohttps://t.co/YnUaZa2cMR
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) March 1, 2024
He said, “It is amazing. He can thank Netflix and all that kind of stuff. His smile, his attitude in the paddock in front of the camera.” also added “Ultimately even against [Yuki] Tsunoda he doesn’t do brilliantly. But he brings value to F1 and that’s why he is there.” Looking at the first Grand Prix of the season, there was a conflict between the Visa CashApp RB teammates Yuki Tsunoda, and Daniel Ricciardo.
Yuki was asked for a teammate swap during the last few laps of the race. A disappointed Yuki tried to overtake for a few more laps but finally gave his position to Ricciardo. however, Ricciardo himself was not able to bring any improvements to the team.
Jacques in that same interview also added, “Ricciardo is a pure product of image and modern social media,”, and, “You can’t base his long career on results. You just can’t. They don’t stack up”. Talking about his career stats, Daniel Ricciardo does to hold a single Drivers Championship title despite being in the sport for more than a decade.
Ricciardo dislikes being labeled as an entertainer
Despite the popularity that he gained through his charming personality and his cheerful laugh, Daniel doesn’t consider himself an entertainer but rather a racer. There have been instances when asked about his feelings about being seen as a PR guy for F1, and he refused to speak on it.
According to reports, Daniel Ricciardo said, ” first and foremost, I certainly see myself as a race car driver, not an entertainer or anything like that.” He added, “But I think we’re all also, as I said, building profiles and a bit of a brand, but it’s not anything that’s taken away from the racing side of it.”
Ricciardo is currently aiming to replace Sergio Perez as the second driver for Red Bull. Perez struggles at the beginning of the 2023 season. However, he has gotten a better understanding of the car and came second in the Bahrain GP held in March 2024. Ricciardo finished in 13. If Ricciardo wants to secure the second seat he needs to perform better and prove Red Bull of his skills.