- Daniel Ricciardo must concentrate on performing
- Australian motorcycle racer David Brabham wants results on the grid
- Brabham fears Ricciardo is struggling to stay relevant in F1
- The Australian F1 Grand Prix will be held on Sunday from 3 p.m
Australian racing driver David Brabham has urged Daniel Ricciardo to ‘shut the whole world out’ so he can give himself every chance to silence the doubters at Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Ricciardo, 34, is one of the sport’s most popular identities, but Brabham wants to see results from the Perth-born driver on the grid, starting in Melbourne.
It follows two poor recent performances in Bahrain (13th) and Saudi Arabia (16th), with Ricciardo’s career potentially on the line.
“As it stands now, he may not have enough mojo to perform at the level that Red Bull would be happy with,” said Brabham, who famously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2009. Broad sports world.
‘He’s not there to play second fiddle to (teammate Yuki) Tsunoda, so the pressure will undoubtedly already be increasing on him.
Australian racing driver David Brabham has urged Daniel Ricciardo to ‘shut the whole world out’ so he can excel in Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Ricciardo, 34, is one of the most popular identities in the sport, but Brabham wants to see results from the Perth-born driver on the grid
Ricciardo finished 12th in the second practice session on Friday afternoon (photo) and is aiming for a top 10 finish during the main race on Sunday
‘Tsunoda outperforms him. “He (Ricciardo) has to dig deep and maybe even distance himself from the joker role he has.”
Brabham added that he is aware that Ricciardo is ‘extremely popular and likeable’, but wants him to ‘shut out the world and concentrate on performing’ for his own good.
Ricciardo finished 12th in the second training session on Friday afternoon.
And if Ricciardo feels the pressure, he doesn’t show it.
“I think some people on the outside are saying, ‘Oh, is it panic mode?’ Or is it a crisis mode?,” said the homegrown star.
‘I’m always excited. I know we’re probably not going to win this weekend, but maybe we can be in the top ten and get a bag of points.”
There will be one more practice session for the F1 superstars on Saturday from 12.30pm AEDT, before qualifying starts at 4pm.
The main race is on Sunday at 3:00 PM local time.
