Red Bull’s second F1 team boss RB has admitted that the “communications” strategy around Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore may not have been top notch
Red Bull’s second F1 team boss RB has admitted that the “communications” strategy around Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore may not have been top notch.
Even before the race weekend, rumours had been circulating that the 35-year-old Australian would drive his final Grand Prix in Singapore. He ended the event with tears in his eyes in front of the media, acknowledging that while the news is not yet official, his Formula 1 adventure is now well and truly over.
“We had already said that he would talk about the drivers’ performances after Singapore,” said RB team boss Laurent Mekies. Mekis joined the Faenza team from Ferrari this year.
“There’s nothing wrong with checking a rider’s performance every few races,” the Frenchman added, “but I think we’ve probably been focusing too much on it in public. Our communication.
\”We already did it in the first part of the season – we did it just before the summer break with quite a bit of fanfare, and I think at one point we said we\’d be looking at it again after Singapore. “So that’s part of the game,” Mekies continued.
“But sometimes we can clearly see that maybe it means too much pressure on the competitors – in this case, especially on Daniel,” he said. “First of all I think about Daniel because he has had a lot of races like this this season. Sometimes he has had quiet races but sometimes he has had very difficult races and this race clearly falls into the latter category.” “Obviously, they’re elite athletes and they know how to deal with these things, but sometimes it can get a little too much,” Mekies added. “When you look at it as a whole, even though we’d like to think it’s not a distraction, it always takes a little bit of energy away from a person. “Daniel was super fast again all weekend, but when everything is so intense, when tenth place here, tenth place there means so much, we can’t forget what a tough situation he was in this weekend.”
