Martin Brundle feels Daniel Ricciardo looked like a “broken man” at the 2022 Belgian GP, struggling to find the pace.
Daniel Ricciardo was finally axed from McLaren after months of speculation. The Australian is set to leave the team after 2022.
Oscar Piastri will replace the fellow Aussie at McLaren from next year. Ricciardo is yet to secure a seat for the 2023 season.
Rumors indicate that McLaren paid a hefty amount of $ 25 million for terminating the contract with Ricciardo.
Ricciardo’s struggles are just increasing day by day. One after another disappointing performances are putting the question on his ability and will to continue in Formula 1.
Brundle is uncertain about Daniel Ricciardo’s future
Brundle thinks that the Aussie is not showing any sign of wanting to continue in Formula 1.
At the Belgian GP, Daniel Ricciardo didn’t make it into Q3. Nevertheless, due to multiple grid penalties offered to multiple drivers, he started the race from P7.
However, the Australian dropped to 15th by the end of the race while his teammate Lando Norris jumped up to 12th even after starting from P17.
Brundle says he looked like a “broken man”.
“I’m not enjoying watching Daniel,”
he said on Sky Sports.
“It’s painful isn’t it. I consider him a friend and I rate him massively as a person and a racing driver.
“If I was McLaren I would have been doing the same thing because he’s struggling to get pace and you can’t take that for another 18 months. I would have done exactly the same thing. How they’ve done it — they’ve made an agreement, this is a tough business.
“Daniel didn’t convince me that he wanted to stay on the grid, that he wanted to go to Alpine or anywhere else.
“I think he potentially does, but I saw a bit of a broken man, I didn’t see ‘I’m going to win a race this year, I am going to be on the grid next year. I’ll show them they’ve made the wrong decision here’.”
Ex-F1 driver David Coulthard has also questioned Ricciardo’s hunger for success:
“I don’t think drivers lose their speed, whatever age they are, it’s just they lose the need,” he said during Channel 4’s coverage at Spa.
“It’s whether he’s just lost that raw youthful hunger that he had when he first arrived in the sport?”
Hunger for victory and succeeding is a must in any sport and if Ricciardo has lost it, it will be really difficult for the Aussie to make a comeback.
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