New Daniel Ricciardo decline theory emerges that could hit Hamilton and Alonso

Anthony Davidson believes Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 decline was in part due to his struggle to adapt to changing cars, and it’s a fate that could await Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton “as well”.

Racing for Red Bull in his early years on the grid, Ricciardo won seven Grands Prix before moving on to Renault and then McLaren.

‘Formula 1 in general spoils you as a driver’

It was with the Woking team where his career stumbled, the Aussie beaten by team-mate Lando Norris despite taking McLaren’s only win during their two years together.

As Formula 1 introduced all-new ground-effect aerodynamic cars in 2022, his results took a further knock prompting McLaren to end his stay two years into his three-year deal.

He returned to the grid mid-2023 with Red Bull’s junior team VCARB but again failed to fire and, some 14 months later, was dropped by the team in favour of putting Liam Lawson in the car.

Ricciardo’s steep decline has baffled pundits and fans alike, the Aussie going from a title contender to struggling to even score points.

Davidson believes it’s a case of the Aussie was “spoilt” by driving some of the best cars on the grid during his Red Bull days that today he cannot adjust to the tricker ground-effect machines.

“I think that the thing for Ricciardo is that he has driven in Formula 1 for a long time. He’s seen the cars evolve, he’s seen them change into the cars that they are today, which don’t have the same level of grip and a very different way you have to drive them compared to the older cars,” he told the Sky F1 podcast.

“And you hang on to that as a driver. You always hang on to the best car you’ve ever driven. And in a way, Formula 1 in general spoils you as a driver.

“I never drove anything else that felt anywhere near as good as my little Super Aguri in the early 2000s and it just spoils you.

“So you’re always there expecting and demanding that kind of performance from anything else you ever drive, and it fails to deliver.

“And that’s what Ricciardo is experiencing now with these cars, and arguably drivers like Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton as well, they’ve driven way better machinery in their past than what they are now. It’s just the way the regulations evolve over time.

“But the young drivers getting in from an F2 car, this is the best car they’ve ever driven. So they don’t come into it with any preconceived ideas. This is just mega and the car is a dream to drive for them. So it’s never been better for them. So it’s a big difference.”

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The former F1 driver turned pundit believe it is “fair” to say Ricciardo struggled to adapt but he’s not the only one.

Sebastian Vettel also struggled to deal with 2014 big changes, which back then was the introduction of a new engine formula, and his results flattered while his new team-mate Ricciardo came to the fore.

“Natural progression”, as Davidson put it, has now turned the tables of the former VCARB driver.

“I think it’s fair,” said the former F1 driver. “And you could also throw in Sebastian Vettel to that as well.

“Ricciardo was the driver that showed Vettel up back in 2014 when the new hybrid power units came along and Vettel was looking back to the good old days of the V8s, V10s even V12s and wishing that he could return to those that kind of power unit.

“And Ricciardo came in and did to Vettel that we’ve seen some young drivers do to the established pecking order of today. It’s that natural progression and now Ricciardo is feeling that on the other side.

“So now he pretty much knows how Sebastian felt back then, because he has been that driver in the past, and he, my goodness, he was mega and we all loved watching him, but it’s sad as a commentator, as a pundit and a driver.

“It was sad feeling that happened to me as a driver, feeling that edge disappear. And it’s sad for me now as a commentator looking at drivers who, dare I say like a dying star, because you just see that sparkle just start to fade. And it’s a slow progression. But it’s hard to admit it to yourself that, ‘yeah, I’m not quite, I’m not quite performing to the same level that I once did’.

“It’s not just Formula 1, any athlete will testify to that as well, that it’s a natural evolution of an athlete. You just start to lose what you once had, and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s not like a certain age, it’s going to hit you and you’re going to lose performance, it happens to different people, different athletes at different ages.

“And I think it’s only when you step away from it that you can look back and go, ‘Yeah, back then that’s when I was firing all cylinders, and I was never quite the same after that’.”

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