Daniel Ricciardo responds to “past your best” jibe from Australian F1 champ

Daniel Ricciardo replied to a comment about being “past your best” through gritted teeth.

Ricciardo was in the airport in Perth heading towards this weekend’s F1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

He was reminded about a critical remark from Alan Jones, the 1980 F1 champion who is also from Australia.

“Alan Jones said that maybe you are past your best,” an interview from 10 News First asked Ricciardo.

“Have you got something to prove in the next few races?”

Ricciardo bluntly replied: “Not at all.”

He then ended the interview fairly abruptly.

Ricciardo was earlier asked if he was looking forward to his home race this weekend.

“Very much,” he said. “I missed it last year.

“So, getting ready for the week ahead.

“It’s been a steady, I’d say slow, start to the year. But it’s only been two races.

“Hopefully the season starts on the right foot in Melbourne.

“That will be the first one to get going.”

Ricciardo, now aged 34, has not enjoyed the best start to the 2024 F1 season.

The RB driver finished 13th in Bahrain and 16th in Saudi Arabia, hardly the type of results which will impress sister team Red Bull.

Ricciardo entered the year hoping to be the man to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull in 2025.

But Perez has twice finished as runner-up so far this season.

Ricciardo, by contrast, bickered with teammate Yuki Tsunoda in Bahrain then was held up in a 40-second pit stop in Saudi Arabia.

The below-par results have now seen critics question Ricciardo’s future in F1 altogether.

“He’s a magic guy to have in a team,” Eddie Jordan has commented.

“But that doesn’t give you the right to be the driver in the team and I am just worried that the end of the McLaren era was really something that stood out and I couldn’t see where he’d lost it.

“There’s been nothing since then that convinces me that I would want to invest my hard earned sponsorship cash to keep Daniel.”