Guenther Steiner deems Daniel Ricciardo’s break as crucial to get away from his ‘downward spiral’ in F1

Guenther Steiner, the Haas Team Principal, has shed light on how Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career has panned out since joining the McLaren F1 team. The Australian had an extremely tough spell with the Woking-based team and Steiner feels that Ricciardo did the right thing by taking a break from F1 in order to get a break from his challenging spell in the sport.

Daniel Ricciardo is not on the 2023 F1 grid and is spending time as the reserve driver of the Red Bull F1 team. He has previously indicated that he wants to return in 2024 and while talking about the same, Steiner added, “‘I think he’s doing the right thing to take a year out. I mean he’s still a reserve driver for Red Bull, he can be around cars, he can be in the circus. You know, because out of sight, out of mind. So he’s still there.”

The Haas team principal added: “Then he needs to make up his own mind if he wants to continue or if he wants to call it a day and do something different. He is still pretty young, you know. A lot of people like him because of his personality… but it’s for him [to decide]. ‘It’s good to have a year in my opinion just to reflect on it because, for sure, the last year wasn’t easy for him because he is a good race car driver and he was beaten by his teammate.”

Guenther Steiner has made it known that Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 future is in his own hands, and it is up to him how he wants to go about doing things heading into 2024. Moreover, the Italian has also reflected on how tough it was for Ricciardo to get beaten by Lando Norris at McLaren on a continuous basis. This was particularly the case in 2022, as Ricciardo only scored 37 points in comparison to his teammate’s 122.

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Guenther Steiner feels Daniel Ricciardo has a chance to start fresh in F1

During Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and Renault days, he was a force to be reckoned with in the sport. Many pundits, deemed him a prolific driver who was able to push an F1 car to its limit. However, all that changed when he decided to join the papaya-colored McLaren F1 team. Everything went sideways for him and he lost his big reputation.

However, despite this fact, Guenther Steiner feels, if Daniel Ricciardo decides to come back to the F1 grid, he would have a chance to start fresh with a clean slate. While talking about the same, he said, “‘It’s difficult to be beaten continuously by your teammate. And a big thing was made out of it as well, you know, press-wise, and he had no answer at the time. ‘It’s a downward spiral once you fall into. Therefore, taking a step back, maybe could make him go forward.”

Steiner has deemed Ricciardo’s year off from the sport as a good thing and believes that the 33-year-old would be able to get his mojo back during his time away from the F1 grid. Taking into account all the chaos that has taken place in Ricciardo’s F1 career in the past 2-3 years, would he be able to find a seat on the grid for the 2024 season of F1?

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• Alfa Romeo chief reveals Valtteri Bottas’ worth to the team amid disappointing spell of races

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