A fan on social media has criticised Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz, saying that it is a “crime” to compare either of them to Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Ricciardo has scored points on two occasions this season including in the Imola sprint race, but a combination of misfortune, mistakes and poor pace has prevented him from scoring any more than 11 points in what is turning into a nightmare year for the Australian.
Sainz has been involved in five notable incidents this season, four of which appeared to be unforced errors from the Spaniard as he continues to settle into the F1-75 under the new technical regulations.
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The 27-year-old’s three podium finishes are keeping him in the top five in the Drivers’ Championship at present, but he too will be aware that his performances need to improve if he is to avoid playing a backup role to team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Ricciardo has out-qualified team-mate Lando Norris once in 2022, while Sainz has been beaten on Saturdays in every grand prix this year by the Monegasque, overcoming him in only one race – the Spanish Grand Prix during which Leclerc suffered from a reliability failure while leading comfortably.
While Ricciardo seemed to have the beating of his British team-mate in Bahrain, Norris has largely out-performed him since, and even scored a podium in Imola while Ricciardo ended the race outside the top 10 following his first lap collision with Sainz.
Both drivers have shown their prowess in the past. Sainz impressively finished ahead of Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship last season, while Ricciardo is an eight-time race winner – one of which arrived in Italy last year.
But to compare them to seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, in one fan’s eyes, is ridiculous.
“Comparing Ricciardo and Sainz to Lewis Hamilton is a crime anyway, they are not on Lewis’ level,” they tweeted.
“[By the way], McLaren has clearly been showing they want Daniel gone, Ferrari aren’t a team to keep giving multiple chances as well, not beyond 3 years.
“To compare them to Lewis really isn’t the same, Mercedes still need Lewis, it’s literally not the same.”
Ahead of the 2022 season, the Australian stated that he does not involve himself in the technical side of the sport, and prefers to focus on the driving.
“I like not really knowing a whole lot. I like investing more of my energy into the driving and I like just being a little bit blasé about it all,” he said.
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“It makes me approach it with a bit more of a carefree attitude and I think that helps me [to] drive better, perform better and take the pressure off it.”
The Twitter user assesses that this works to his disadvantage.
“Daniel openly also mentioned he is not a development driver and doesn’t get ‘involved with the technical parts,’ if he’s also not performing well, it might sound harsh but he isn’t making himself useful to the team at all,” they added.
“Being goofy and smiling isn’t going to help keep the seat.”
Ricciardo is under contract at McLaren until the end of next year, while Sainz has a deal with the Scuderia that keeps him in Maranello until the end of 2024.