Ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has discarded the notion that Daniel Ricciardo’s career “whimpering out” can be attributed to struggles with the latest regulations.
Ricciardo’s career in the series appears to be over with the announcement last month that Liam Lawson will replace him at RB over the remaining six events this term.
Red Bull’s decision to commit to a mid-season change comes amid Ricciardo being unable to prove since his comeback that he deserved a return to the senior setup.
The Australian’s woes mark a vast contrast to his pomp when he destroyed four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in his debut campaign with Red Bull back in 2014.
With subsequent moves to Renault and McLaren producing minimal success and his F1 retrieve not working out, Coulthard has cast his verdict on Ricciardo’s decline.
“The career of Daniel Ricciardo would appear that would be it for Formula 1,” Coulthard, a 13-time F1 race winner, said on the Formula For Success podcast.
“Never says never, there may well be another team that suddenly wants to tap into his knowledge, and he may pop up in another role for all we know that isn’t behind the cockpit.
“But it’s amazing, actually, how quickly the career seemed to pass. He is still a young man.
“Arrived with a bang, really asserted himself as one of the best overtakers in the other part of his career, won a heap of grands prix – he’s leaving the sport with eight grand prix victories.
“But it kind of whimpered out, let’s be honest about it. And it’s always difficult when you’re talking about people you know.
“But if we put to one side personal feelings and just look at the data, it just didn’t really seem to work for the last few years.
“Is it just ebb and flow of sportsmen and women’s talents are not infinite, they all have a timeline?”
Coulthard suspects age caught up to Ricciardo
Ricciardo managed high points past his initial Red Bull departure in 2018, recording two podiums with Renault and then an eighth win with McLaren at Monza in 2021.
However, Ricciardo’s spell with McLaren proved to be tumultuous as Lando Norris imposed a comprehensive loss that resulted in his contract being cut short in 2022.
The ex-Red Bull racer’s troubles against Norris worsened upon F1’s move back to ground effect cars in 2022, but Coulthard has denied that can explain his regression.
“It’s an interesting one, because we often talk about certain cars not suiting certain drivers.
“If I ever look at my own career with the benefit of not being lost in the emotion of all the distractions, if you look at the setups, you had wide tracks, like narrow track grooves, three-and-a-half litres, all those different things that we had, I was always where I was meant to be – there or thereabouts on my best days, a little bit light on the average days.
“Therefore, if I just see life through my eyes when I hear a driver going, ‘Oh, this car doesn’t suit me’, does any car really suit a driver?
“The very best guys just take the best out of whatever the regulations are through the period of their career.
“And I would expand that to Michael [Schumacher] when he came back.
“He was still a very good driver, took pole position in the Mercedes in Monaco, but he just didn’t seem as good.
“I would have preferred to race against Michael in his comeback with Mercedes than Michael when he was at Ferrari.
“I guess it’s that footballing thing that we often touch on about losing a yard.
“I wonder if it is just you’ve got a certain amount of energy and heartbeats where your full-on commitment is there – and in the moment where anything other than full-on commitment, no amount of experience is going to overcome that.”
READ MORE: Red Bull cites reason behind Daniel Ricciardo’s failed F1 return
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