Racing Bulls reveal hidden Ricciardo impact

Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies has shared the hidden impact Daniel Ricciardo had on the team before his axing.

Ricciardo was dropped after the 2024 Singapore GP after poor performance, having returned to what was then AlphaTauri in mid-2023 after Nyck de Vries was released.

For 2024, AlphaTauri re-branded to Visa Cash App RB, with Mekies and new CEO Peter Bayer ushering in a new era for the team after Franz Tost's departure. 

The team is planning rapid expansion in the near future, with Mekies putting the start of that transformation down to Ricciardo's pulling power and knowledge of what it takes to build a race-winning team. 

"Of course, we wanted different results with Daniel, but the fact that he came back, the fact we saw him come back reproducing the ultimate speed, but we failed to have that ultimate speed, consistently enough," Mekies told media including RacingNews365.

"It is what it is, hands up, and the responsibility is half on us because it was something that needed to happen together, to get that sweet spot every weekend. 

"We did not get that sweet spot every weekend but we will keep with us the fact that when we got it, Daniel was back up there, and that is what we saw in Miami.

"I will not forget the role he played in the growth of the project and trying to build a better team, attracting senior people, and pushing us on to be faster.

"He played a huge role in that phase of the team, coming from race-winning teams, and knowing what you should have and that was huge."