Ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle claims Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to depart Red Bull in 2018 was “emotional and flawed” amid criticism from Jacques Villeneuve.
The recent weekend in Canada saw Ricciardo and Villeneuve engaged in a spat that began with the 1997 champion questioning the Australian’s place on the F1 grid.
Ricciardo then qualified fifth in Montreal and hit back at the Canadian’s comments as he asked whether Villeneuve had been hit on the head as he tends to “talk s***”.
Villeneuve was less than impressed with such remarks and labelled them “childish” as he was unwilling to retract his previous words despite Ricciardo coming eighth.
Brundle has appeared to side with Villeneuve over harbouring doubts about Ricciardo’s capabilities and believes his F1 career started to unravel when he left Red Bull.
“For the record, as it’s become a hot topic due to my Sky Sports F1 colleague Jacques Villeneuve expressing his firm opinions, I have fundamental respect for all F1 drivers, not least for Daniel and Jacques, because I know how hard it is to drive such fearsome cars under that spotlight,” Brundle wrote on his Ski Sports F1 column.
“Daniel has won eight GPs including an outstanding Monaco victory, scored 32 podiums, and has regularly shown world-class talent.
“But those results were quite a while ago and I wish he’d not left Red Bull at the end of 2018.”
Ricciardo would exit his venture with Renault two seasons in and head to McLaren, where he struggled to adapt and Lando Norris thrashed him across two seasons.
The eight-time race winner’s contract with the Woking-based squad would be cut short, but he salvaged an F1 reprieve with Red Bull’s second-string team last term.
However, Ricciardo has been unable to recover his previous level on enough occasions and trails 10 points behind his less-experienced RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
With Ricciardo retaining ambitions to return to the parent Red Bull operation, Brundle has asserted he should never have vacated the seat alongside Max Verstappen.
“That was an emotional and flawed decision, he should have faced up to Max in the best car, then he’d have necessarily raised his game even further,” he asserted.
“Ricciardo never seemed to be quite the same driver again. He clearly still does have speed and race craft, as we witnessed also in the Miami Sprint, but something in his psyche or approach is holding that back and it’s costing him opportunity and longevity.”
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