Despite Daniel Ricciardo Losing “Burning Fire”, Ex-Ferrari Boss Calls Out Jacques Villeneuve’s Harsh Criticism

Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career has spanned a long time, and it has seen him switch several teams too. The Aussie debuted back in 2011 with HRT and became a full-time F1 driver in 2012 for Scuderia Toro Rosso. In 2014, Red Bull hired him to replace Mark Webber as a teammate to four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. While this task would have daunted others, it did not intimidate Daniel. He won his first Grand Prix that year and eventually stayed on with the Austrian outfit till 2018.

Since leaving Red Bull, the Honey Badger has been to Renault and McLaren, but he returned home to Milton-Keynes in 2023. Now, Daniel Ricciardo is driving for Red Bull’s sister team Visa CashApp Racing Bulls. Unfortunately, he is not doing as good a job as he needs to do. This is because Ricciardo’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda has scored 14 points more than him. And such an underperformance from Ricciardo made 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve bash him publicly.

While speaking on the F1 Show, Jacques Villeneuve took an enormous dig at Daniel Ricciardo. He said, “Ricciardo is a pure product of image and modern social media. You can’t base his long career on results. You just can’t. They don’t stack up.” Making such comments at an experienced and widely celebrated racer like Ricciardo has made Jacques Villeneuve receive a lot of backlash. But what did former Ferrari manager Peter Windsor have to say about the Canadian’s harsh remarks on Daniel Ricciardo?

Peter Windsor negates Villeneuve’s “unbelievable” Daniel Ricciardo rant

As a former Formula 1 team manager who later turned into a journalist, Peter Windsor has seen the sport up close. Thus, when he was asked about his thoughts on Jacques Villeneuve’s bashing of Daniel Ricciardo, he put in his own two bits. Speaking on Cameron F1’s YouTube video, Windsor said, “[Daniel Ricciardo is] still…you put him in a good car, good balance, in a reasonable situation in a Grand Prix and he’ll still put in a very very good Sunday afternoon, and he’s a very, very good racing driver still. So, if Jacques’ saying he’s finished, I think that’s way off the mark.” And then, the Briton went on to prove Jacques Villeneuve was also wrong to say the Honey Badger’s comment about Daniel Ricciardo’s long career not being based on results but on media coverage.

Speaking on Daniel’s early days in Red Bull, Peter Windsor said, “From my POV, Daniel Ricciardo was absolutely brilliant in Red Bull in the last year which basically forced Seb Vettel to leave because he couldn’t believe he was being blown away by Daniel Ricciardo.” Thus, it is quite clear that Windsor believes it was Ricciardo’s racing prowess that pushed Sebastian Vettel away from Red Bull despite the German being a four-time F1 title holder.

While Windsor valiantly shielded Daniel Ricciardo from Jacques Villeneuve‘s scathing comments, he did have some criticisms of his own about the Aussie. Thus, he brought up Danny Ricc’s decision to move out from Red Bull and explained why he should not have done that.

Peter Windsor claims Daniel Ricciardo “lost his fire” following his Red Bull exit

In 2018, Daniel Ricciardo bowed out of a long allegiance with Red Bull. He took up the French squad Renault on its offer and that made him one of the highest-paid F1 racers on the grid. But he certainly did not become one of the most successful ones. Speaking on this, Windsor said, “Daniel Ricciardo should not have left Red Bull. But then he moved to Renault and lost his burning fire, his ambition, and he’s getting it back now, but it’s a bit late.” But surely, it would not be too late for Daniel Ricciardo to make a comeback if he manages to impress the stakeholders at Mercedes with his performance and they book him to replace Lewis Hamilton.

If not Mercedes, Daniel Ricciardo might also get to drive for Red Bull once again. This will happen only if he is consistent in his delivery till one of the Red Bull drivers loses their contract. Currently, Max Verstappen is slated to continue at the Milton-Keynes team till 2028, and Sergio Perez has also renewed his deal with them. So, if Daniel Ricciardo fights for a winning chance, he might get to keep his seat at VCARB for now.

And once he performs brilliantly like he did during his Red Bull years back in the 2010s, he might be back racing for the Austrian outfit. Do you think Daniel Ricciardo will last in F1 long enough for that, or will he retire soon? Let us know in the comments below.