Ricciardo Looking For Consistency Rather Than Podiums

Saturday, 10 February 2024 at 16:00

RB driver Daniel Ricciardo stated in an interview after yesterday's launch that he aims for consistency over a few lucky podiums.

As he described it, 2023 has been "the strangest of seasons" for Daniel Ricciardo. The Honey Badger watched the first ten races of the season only from the sidelines.

Then, as he got a chance to return to Alphatauri (RB's last year's name), the 34-year-old suffered an injury after just two races, which put him out for the following five Grand Prix weekends.

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Going into 2024, Ricciardo will be looking for a more "normal" season where he competes in every one of the 24 scheduled Grand Prix races. In relation to his ambitions, he said at the launch of VCARB 01 in Las Vegas:

"To get back on the podium for sure would be amazing, but if you say: 'Oh you only have one podium this year, and the rest are 10th places, no, that is not what I want."

The Australian racing driver hinted his team had made significant progress, as he mentioned in a different interview that top fives should be a target for his team in 2024. He continued:

"I would rather a whole lot of top fives, with no podium, and just show consistency towards the front, that is what I really want, a bit like my second year at Renault [in 2020], which people forget about now."

In 2020, Ricciardo scored seven top-five finishes and three podiums during the Eifel Grand Prix and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

"That was a year I was really consistently in the top five, top six, and a few podiums, and that is the level which I want to be able to produce again week in, week out."

Ricciardo showed a bit of this performance during the Mexico City Grand Prix when he qualified fourth with an Alphatauri. Could we expect results like this more frequently in 2024?