Daniel Ricciardo silenced critics of his performances so far in 2024 with a storming drive in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, claiming a shock fifth on the grid for RB.
Ten years to the day that he’d recorded the first of his eight Formula 1 victories, Ricciardo was looking confident throughout qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, joining his team mate Yuki Tsunoda in Q3 before finishing P5 to Tsunoda’s P8 – Ricciardo just 0.178s behind the identical 1m 12.000s lap times of pole-sitter George Russell and Max Verstappen.
The strong result came on the same day that Tsunoda was offered an extension to his contract at RB – the Japanese driver having outscored Ricciardo 19 points to five so far this year – and a day after 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve had made comments to Sky Sports F1 questioning why Ricciardo was “still in F1”.
“I’ve just been told [about the comments],” Ricciardo said. “I don’t listen or read but… yeah, there’s definitely some people out there who… Yeah, whatever. I won’t give them the time of day, but yeah, top five, been quick all weekend, we’re less than two-tenths from pole so… eat s***!”