Formula 1 icon Martin Brundle says it’s “painful” to watch Daniel Ricciardo at the moment, describing the embattled driver as a “broken man”.
Ricciardo’s F1 future is up in the air after McLaren terminated his contract a year early with an eye to replacing him with fellow Australian Oscar Piastri.
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The 33-year-old veteran finished out of the points in 15th at the Belgian Grand Prix overnight in a result that will do little to lift his spirits.
Max Verstappen won the race in dominant fashion to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship to 98 points.
Ricciardo wasn’t exactly brimming with enthusiasm when quizzed about his future over the weekend.
Asked on Sky Sports if he’d return to Alpine, his old team formerly known as Renault, he said: “Yes. I don’t really know how else to say that.”
Ricciardo said he wants to stay in F1 “a lot”, adding he’d only do so “under the right circumstances”.
“Time will tell,” he said.
“We’ll see. We’ll see what feels right, and is right, but it’s purely going to be on where I feel like it’d be the most competitive.
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“That’s ultimately what it’s going to come down to. It’s not going to be about any other factors than that.”
Brundle wasn’t overly convinced Ricciardo wants to remain in F1 and lamented the fact his career has taken a downward turn.
“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’.”
Brundle believes Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull for Renault at the end of the 2018 is the reason behind his struggles and one he will live to regret.
“He shouldn’t have left Red Bull, that’s how it looks to me,” he continued.
“The Renault move was the wrong move for him. He didn’t fancy staying around what he thought was team (Max) Verstappen, which there was an element of truth in that. It’s just played out badly all the way along, hasn’t it?’
“He’s lost his mojo a little bit. When I see Daniel starting outside the top 10 and running outside the top 10 all afternoon, that’s not him and that’s not where he’s at.
“We know he’s better than that and I find that painful to watch. I can’t imagine how painful it’s been for Daniel to be in that car falling backwards through the field.
“Maybe it’s all a bit of blessed relief all around and it’ll come back around and show his mettle.”
Former F1 driver David Coulthard questioned if Ricciardo still has the hunger to race in F1.
“I don’t think drivers lose their speed, whatever age they are, it’s just they lose the need,” he told Channel 4.
“It’s whether he’s just lost that raw youthful hunger that he had when he first arrived in the sport?”
