15 March 2024 , 11:25
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Daniel Ricciardo wants a return to his old Red Bull seat - but Eddie Jordan has seen nothing from the Aussie early in this new Formula 1 season to convince him he still has what it takes.
The Aussie is keen for a return to the team he willingly left over five years ago to avoid being trapped in rising star Max Verstappen's shadow. But it was a gamble which didn't pay off as brief spells with Renault and McLaren brought little success other than a single race win with the latter.
He returned to the Red Bull fold last year and raced seven times for sister team RB after Nyck de Vries was axed mid-season. And he was given a new contract for this term to give him the chance to audition for Sergio Perez's seat.
Just a few weeks ago, Ricciardo was the clear favourite to replace the Mexican at the end of this year if Red Bull decided to make a change. But Perez has started the season strongly with back-to-back podiums while the Aussie is pointless.
More than that, he didn't threaten a top-10 finish either in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda showing strong pace so far. And former F1 team owner Jordan thinks it is a sign that the 34-year-old might not be the driver he once was.
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Speaking on his Formula For Success podcast, the Irishman said: "[Ricciardo] is a magic guy to have in a team, but that doesn't give you the right to be the driver in the team. I'm just worried that the end of McLaren era was really something that stood out and I couldn't see where he'd lost it.
"There has been nothing since then that convinces me that I would want to invest my hard-earned sponsorship cash to keep Daniel. He needs a result more than anyone perhaps, and he needs to get it together. Because otherwise he is going to be replaced and he can understand why he would be replaced because the performance is just not there.
"I mean, he shouldn't be spinning the car, he shouldn't be getting himself out of sequence in a pit stop. You don't see Max doing done, you don't see other people doing that. So, Daniel as much as we absolutely adore him and I think he's a huge asset for Formula 1, the stopwatch never lies and the stopwatch in terms of Daniel, the question marks are out there.
"When we see people like Oliver Bearman coming in like the way he did, people like Daniel Ricciardo will have to look over his shoulders and say, 'How much time have I left here?'"
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, who plays a key role in the organisation's driver decisions, has already publicly told the Aussie that he needs to do more. "Yuki's qualifying performance was very good and Ricciardo has to come up with something soon," the Austrian said.