F1 News: Daniel Ricciardo Comments on His Future Within the Sport - 'I'm Not Naive'

Daniel Ricciardo remains positive about overcoming his early-season difficulties in F1.

Daniel Ricciardo has confidently addressed speculation about his future in Formula 1, highlighting his experience and ongoing efforts to adjust to his new team, Visa Cash App RB. Despite early-season struggles, the Australian driver remains optimistic about a turnaround.

Amid swirling rumors and a challenging start to the 2024 Formula 1 season, Daniel Ricciardo has openly discussed his position and future within the sport. Joining a new team this year, Ricciardo's move was seen as a critical step in revitalizing his career, with eyes set on securing a potential seat at Red Bull Racing by 2025.

However, the season’s opening races have not gone to plan for the experienced Australian. With finishes far from the podium and early retirements in Japan and China due to race incidents, Ricciardo's ability to compete at the highest level has come under scrutiny. Notably, his performances were outshone by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in several races, including a commendable seventh place in Australia by Tsunoda against Ricciardo's 12th.

Despite these setbacks, Ricciardo remains undeterred.

"I don't want this to take a whole year and I don't expect it to because, on the one hand, I'm not a rookie, I've got experience, so that should also speak for something," Ricciardo stated.

The Australian driver also dismissed notions that the pressure of securing his seat race-by-race affected his performance.

"There's no additional pressure from ‘sh*t, am I going to have a seat next weekend' or anything. It's not anything like that," he explained, "I'm also not naïve but I haven't had any indication of that."

Reflecting on his past successes and recent efforts, particularly during simulator sessions that have shown promising outcomes, Ricciardo believes there is a disconnect between the simulation results and actual race performance.

"Again, it probably goes back to a little bit of maybe what I did in the past, but I think they know – even last year, I showed the signs of speed and everything that maybe I didn't always show with McLaren. So, we felt like we got that back out of me and okay, for whatever reason, it hasn't quite been there to its fullest so far this year," he admitted.

"But I think they know it's there and also what we're doing on the sim, they can see that it's there, so we just now got to put it together."