Alan Jones Says Daniel Ricciardo Still Doesn't Know Why He Lost His F1 Seat

Ahead of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula One World Champion, offered a blunt assessment of Daniel Ricciardo's situation: he doesn't think Ricciardo knows why it went wrong. Jones, who appears on Channel 10's free-to-air coverage of the race, said he has tried to analyse it himself and cannot explain why Ricciardo went off the boil.

The background is familiar. Ricciardo was sacked by McLaren in mid-2022, with countryman Oscar Piastri taking his place. At 33, that left him without a race seat for 2023. He has since returned to Red Bull, the team that gave him the most success of his career, as reserve driver. A comeback in 2024 is being contemplated, but his future is, in the article's words, up in the air.

Jones did not rule a return out. You never say never, he said, and a reserve driver coming out of a sabbatical can surprise people. He pointed to two precedents. Fernando Alonso left F1 at the end of 2018 after a turbulent spell at a struggling McLaren, raced IndyCar with McLaren's American arm and entered the Dakar Rally with Toyota, then came back in 2021 with Alpine, then known as Renault. He is now at Aston Martin, where he has spearheaded a surge that has seen the Silverstone team beat the Mercedes factory squad, which supplies its power units, at almost every stage this season.

Kimi Raikkonen left Ferrari in 2009 and could not land a drive with another top team for 2010, turning down an offer from Toyota. He went rallying full-time with Citroen, finishing 10th in both his seasons, then raced for Kyle Busch Motorsports in NASCAR's Truck Series and the second-tier Nationwide Series. He returned in 2012 with Lotus, now Alpine, followed by five years at Ferrari and three at Alfa Romeo before retiring in 2021. Jones said that if Ricciardo came back, he thinks he would be quite good.

The obstacle, in Jones's view, is where he would go. He cannot see Red Bull dropping the two drivers it has, or Ferrari dropping Sainz and Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton, he said, would not move unless it was to a good team. So there are not many doors for Ricciardo to go through. Asked whether Ricciardo should have accepted reported offers from smaller teams such as Haas or Williams, Jones declined to judge. The only person who knows what he should have done, he said, is Daniel, and nobody else knows his state of mind at the time; he may have badly needed the rest. Williams, he added, was no great shake, and he thinks Ricciardo probably did the right thing.

Of Piastri, the boy from Oakleigh, Jones was glowing. He said Piastri improves his stock every time he goes out, that the problem at McLaren is the car and not the driver, and that people in F1 know it. Piastri may not win a Grand Prix or a title in the next year or so, Jones said, but if he keeps this up he is well placed for a competitive drive if McLaren doesn't come good. He was optimistic about McLaren, though, which won a messy public fight for Piastri's signature last year. The team has just opened a new and very expensive wind tunnel, and Jones said it has the facilities and personnel to build a very good car. Ferrari, he noted, has a reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, while Aston Martin has shown that a new facility, a new wind tunnel and the right people can produce a race-winning car.

Jones also spoke about the wider Australian picture. Three Australians are on the grid in a racing or reserve role, with two more in Formula 3. He named Jack Doohan, 20, son of five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, who races in Formula 2 for Alpine and is also its reserve F1 driver, and Tommy Smith and Hugh Barter in F3. He said Mick has been fantastically supportive, but that Alpine's boss was unwise to say publicly that the team expects Jack to win the F2 title. That, Jones said, puts undue pressure on the kid, though he rates Doohan's chances.

On F1 itself, Jones, 76, criticised Stefano Domenicali's suggestion that free practice might be scrapped, saying drivers need track time and that cutting it would push everyone into simulators. He said Michael Masi did nothing wrong in the 2021 season finale and was attacked unfairly, and clarified that his complaint concerns inconsistent day-to-day enforcement: crossing the white line is fine one day and not the next, and penalties vary from five grid places to the back of the grid. The Australian Grand Prix is on Sunday, April 2.