Marko Puzzled By Ricciardo's Performance: "Generally Slower Than Yuki"

Friday, 29 March 2024 at 10:30

Red Bull's Helmut Marko suggested he was puzzled by Daniel Ricciardo's current form. He said the honey badger is "generally slower" than Tsunoda.

RB F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo is losing in a head-to-head battle with his teammate 0-3 in qualifying sessions and 1-2 in race results after the third Grand Prix weekend of the season in Melbourne.

The honey badger hoped to perform better during his home grand prix, but instead, his teammate scored an incredible result for the Italy-based team, putting them into sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.

The 34-year-old F1 driver has been struggling ever since the first race weekend of the season. Helmut Marko suggests he is puzzled by that because, apparently, the Australian showed great potential during the winter testing, but it seemingly disappeared after the start of the season. He told Laola1.at:

"We are all puzzled about that. He's generally slower than Yuki. Something never goes right with him."

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"What is surprising is that he looked very good in the winter test. But currently, Yuki is clearly the faster one."

Ricciardo came to RB as the experienced driver who was supposed to outperform Yuki Tsunoda this season and then perhaps move up to Red Bull.

However, his results are far off from what he hoped for and what the team expected from him. After the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Marko said he hopes RB can build a better car for the 34-year-old so he can at least match his younger teammate's pace.

In terms of whether there would be space for Tsunoda in Red Bull if he defeats Ricciardo this season, the 80-year-old Austrian said:

"You would have to have another driver as a comparison. The question is: Has Yuki become a high-flyer or is Daniel so weak? There are still no objective answer after three races on three completely different courses."