INTERVIEW: Daniel Ricciardo knows he still has the “it factor”

In pre-season, Ricciardo made it abundantly clear he was gunning for a return to Red Bull, specifically the second seat alongside Max Verstappen he opted to vacate at the end of 2018, believing at the time the team was starting to favour the Dutch driver.

Instead, the 35-year-old Australian has found himself fighting to retain his seat with RB following an indifferent campaign, punctuated by the odd highlight on occasion that has kept him in work.

Approaching the recent summer break, Ricciardo recognised he effectively faced a two-race audition in Hungary and Belgium to avoid being ousted in favour of fellow Antipodean Liam Lawson.

On the Monday after the race at Spa-Francorchamps, it emerged that both Sergio Pérez and Ricciardo would retain their seats for the remainder of the season, affording them a brief respite from the pressures they have been facing.

With the return to racing after the summer break at Zandvoort with the Dutch Grand Prix, the spotlight was again on Ricciardo to see if he truly has what it takes to compete at this level. The remaining will be no different.

Ricciardo has no doubt in his mind he still has the “it factor," as he describes it, and that is the difference between the driver now and the one of two years ago who was lost at McLaren and who was axed two years into a three-year contract.

"I knew my results [at McLaren] weren't good," he said in an interview with this writer. "I knew I was struggling. But you still feel like, 'Alright, this weekend, I'll figure it out. I'll do it'.

"You think you're still the best version of yourself, but I knew I wasn't. I can comfortably say that, and I think having that time off last year, I could see clearly that I wasn't beaming with confidence. I wasn't really believing in myself, and all these things.

"I was having doubts and questions and that led to me wanting the time off as well."

Ironically, Ricciardo returned last year, when the team was then known as AlphaTauri, for the final two races before the summer break in Hungary and Belgium. In the first race afterward in Zandvoort, he shattered a finger in a practice smash and missed the next five races that helped propel New Zealander Lawson into the picture.

Despite that unfortunate situation, Ricciardo was retained for this season, heading into it with the aim of ousting Pérez. Form and results, however, failed to materialise, with his only points over the first eight races being a fine fourth in the Miami sprint.

It was not until the Canadian Grand Prix, and with the pressure increasing, that Ricciardo finally underlined what he knows he is capable of.

There have been additional points in Austria and Belgium, but he is ten behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, whose seat for 2025 was confirmed several races ago. Reflecting on what has transpired so far, Ricciardo said: "What I haven't done well, I would say, is probably just put it under the consistency bracket.

"We haven't been able to just be that consistent Q3 guy, or get the points every weekend. So that's where I haven't done well – week in week out – and in this sport that could be a big downfall."

Believing there have been moments when he has performed "particularly well, or exceptionally well," he added: "I'm not saying that's enough, but I do put quite a lot of weight on that, especially at this point in my career when people are asking, 'Does he still have it? Is he getting on a bit?'

"At least the big results have been big enough where people then say, 'Oh, he can still put a good lap together', or, 'He can put a very, very good lap together'. I guess what I'm trying to say is, fortunately, the stopwatch can still be a very good one, and for whatever reason, the consistency hasn't been there, so I've got to sort that part out.

"But what I'm happy about is I've still got it, and it's just up to me to show it more often. I think the ‘it factor’, when people question that, at least more than once I've been able to say, 'Okay, I can do it'."

Another factor that is different now about Ricciardo compared to the nadir of 2022 is his level of maturity and self-awareness that these next few races may very well be the last of his F1 career. If that is to be the case, he is approaching them in a pragmatic fashion.

Ricciardo maintains he is "fully motivated, fully focused," before significantly adding, "I appreciate that I don't know if I've got one year left, five years left, so I'm treating it like it is truly my last chance.

"So I'm in a good place because I'm comfortable within myself and I'm comfortable with the approach I'm taking and going all in."

And if he does enough to earn another shot next year, then the ambitions remain high, just as they did coming into this season. With Pérez's seat far from guaranteed for 2025, even though the Mexican signed a new one-plus-one deal in early June, Red Bull's options as to who will partner Verstappen remain open.

You sense Ricciardo has unfinished business because, asked whether he would love another chance to go up against Verstappen, he replied: "Yeah. I'm not going to give a diplomatic answer. Of course, I would.

"I know I need to earn it. It's not just going to be handed to me but if I earned it and the chance was there, of course, I'd love to do it. So we'll see."

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.