Mekies expected to keep Ricciardo’s 4th place during the sprint in Miami

Daniel Ricciardo has experienced a difficult start to the 2024 season, being outperformed by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The Australian’s struggles have slowed down the rumors surrounding a seat at Red Bull in 2025, but in the last few races, he has gradually regained his competitiveness.

In China, after a chassis change, Ricciardo was fighting to score points until he was hit by Lance Stroll under a safety car in the middle of the race. In Miami, Ricciardo finished fourth in the qualifying sprint. He scored his first points of the year, deploying a solid defense against faster cars throughout the 19-lap race.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said this performance did not come out of nowhere, as Ricciardo had improved in the last few races without having the results to show for it. “I am sure it was a huge relief, as the United States are almost like his second home race,” Mekies told Autosport. “He did it with style, with an incredible defense against Carlos [Sainz] and McLaren [by Oscar Piastri]. It was a fantastic moment for him.”

« We had seen signs of improvement before, but it was very difficult to explain it to the world. Saudi Arabia was a better performance than Bahrain, Australia was better than Saudi Arabia, Japan was better than Australia, and China was better than Japan. We think there are more steps we can take in the next races to better adapt the car to him. »

Is Ricciardo more comfortable in his single-seater?

Let’s just say that we identified elements that didn’t suit him and we removed a good portion of the speed. We tried to check all the boxes to eliminate these limitations and there are still a few that we would like to see checked over the next weekends,” he says about the difficulties of the Australian.

« It was always planned to introduce a new chassis before the sixth race. It was a good thing to do to address Daniel’s issues, make him more comfortable, and he immediately performed better in China and Miami. It is of great value for a team to be able to understand and analyze what is happening with the drivers, and this is not always visible in the data. We are always trying to understand what was bothering him before, and it is an ongoing work. »

Ricciardo experienced a much more difficult Grand Prix, being eliminated from Q1 in 18th position and finishing in 15th position. According to Mekies, this reversal of results shows how easy it is to be ejected from a tightly packed midfield if drivers or teams make the slightest mistake.

« You must master every aspect of the weekend at a high level. If we do not, we are eliminated from Q1 right away,” he explained. « We had a fantastic performance with Daniel during the sprint qualifying and during the sprint itself. And then during the main qualifying, we were a bit out of the tire window, a small mistake there, and suddenly, you are eliminated and that’s the reality. That’s what I love about racing. It’s 10 or 12 cars fighting, but it’s certainly very intense pressure on the team. »