“Here to Race, Not to Entertain the Crowd” – Max Verstappen Bewildered by Daniel Ricciardo’s Pre-Australian GP Fan Events

A lot of things have changed since the last time Formula 1 was in Melbourne for the Australian GP. The Mercedes dominance has somewhat changed to Ferrari dominance. The Lewis-Bottas pair no more leads the championship, but Charles-Sainz does. However, there’s one thing that didn’t change and that is Daniel Ricciardo’s dip in performance.

Ever since the Australian has joined McLaren, he has been struggling. Last year Daniel finished in P8 in driver’s standings, a below-the-bench performance for a driver like him. With the new season already underway, the struggling Ricciardo seems to be back.

F1 returns to Australia after two years. It must be pretty good for the Honey Badger to return home. With his return, Danny Ric has been engaged with various off-track activities lately. However, his former teammate Max Verstappen thinks Daniel’s involvement in off-track activities hampers his performance on the track.

The defending F1 champion conveyed on Daniel Ricciardo, “I always felt sorry for him because he was always so busy. He could never really enjoy it.”

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The Dutchman also stated, “Even if there is no more corona, I am sure I will not do more on race weekends. Because I’m here to race, not to entertain the crowd. I’m going to entertain them with what I do on the track.”

How did Daniel Ricciardo fare in the last three Australian Grand Prix races?

Talking about the 2017 race, the 32-year-old was with Red Bull back then. In Saturday’s qualification, Ricciardo could only manage P10. However, The Australian started the race further in P15 and eventually had to retire just after 25 laps on board.

The 2018 race has been decent as compared to 2017. Daniel fetched P5 on Saturday’s qualification. A three-place grid penalty left him in P8. From P8, Ricciardo managed to secure P4.

The very last race in 2019 saw Ricciardo go out of the race yet again. Running for Renault, Daniel lost his front wing on the way to turn 1. The former Red Bull star tried to carry on but had to give in after lap 28.

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All in all, the Australian Grand Prix isn’t a happy hunting ground for the ‘Shoey’ man, just as Silverstone was for Hamilton or Zandvoort was for Verstappen in 2021. The last 5 races in Melbourne have seen Daniel Ricciardo take P6, P4, DNF, P4, and another DNF. Can Danny Ric pull off a stunner this season? We’ll see on Sunday.