Breaking news
Formula 1
Ricciardo stopped caring about intra-team battle stats
Daniel Ricciardo says that he stopped caring about his Formula 1 statistics in comparison to Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, in a season plagued with reliability issues.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Dec 26, 2018, 3:53 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Ricciardo, who will move to Renault in 2019, scored two wins early on in the season, in China and Monaco respectively but the rest of his season was marred by misfortune and he finished a distant sixth in the championship standings.
By comparison, Verstappen recovered from a tough start to the year to enjoy his strongest F1 campaign to date, finishing fourth in the championship, winning in Austria and Mexico and claiming 11 podiums overall.
Ricciardo admitted that watching his teammate gain momentum was initially a source of frustration, but that his coping mechanism was to stop comparing statistics between the two.
"I think I got to a point, probably around the mid-season break, where I just didn't care about the stats anymore," Ricciardo told Motorsport.com.
"I knew I was probably going to get done in qualifying this year, who cares? I may end up with fewer points, who cares?
"I just want to do what I can and if it works, it works and if it doesn't life goes on. Of course, I did care, but it was just that I didn't want to put it on a pedestal.
"I already had so many other things on my mind. I didn't need to fill it with more expectations.
"If I did the best job I could: maybe I could beat him but if not, so be it and I'll live to fight another day."
Ricciardo failed to score a podium after his Monaco victory and suffered five retirements in the 15 races that followed, with other grands prix impacted by reliability problems triggering grid penalties.
However, Ricciardo maintains that even his period of early-season success, which included the Azerbaijan crash with Verstappen, was far from perfect.
"When you think about it, I won two out of six, but with the other four actually, there was always some drama," he said.
"In Melbourne, I had a penalty before the season even began, so I was already ready to put my fricking elbow through a wall.
"In Bahrain, my race was over after a lap. In China, I win in kind of a spectacular fashion.
"Then there's Baku, and we all know what happened in Baku. In Barcelona, I spun behind the safety car and then in Monaco I won.
"As good as the first six races were, it kind of shaped the whole year really and that craziness has continued."
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Top Stories of 2018, #6: Red Bull joins forces with Honda
Next article Lack of car knowledge "shocked" Tost in first Honda meeting
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Lando Norris reunites with Daniel Ricciardo for Indy 500 celebrations after disastrous Canadian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Lando Norris reunites with Daniel Ricciardo for Indy 500 celebrations after disastrous Canadian GP
Daniel Ricciardo says life feels "more real" after abrupt F1 exit
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Daniel Ricciardo says life feels "more real" after abrupt F1 exit
More from
Red Bull Racing
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Formula 1
Formula 1 16 h
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
Latest news
Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season
Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
3 h
NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe