2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg has accused Daniel Ricciardo of making an “unnecessary” comment, which will simply apply “extra pressure” onto the Australian.
Ricciardo’s sabbatical for this season was brought to an early end last weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix, as the 34-year-old replaced the fired Nyck de Vries.
It was confirmed following De Vries’ axing that Ricciardo will be completing the season for AlphaTauri, with Red Bull having loaned their development driver to Faenza.
Ahead of his return to racing last weekend, Ricciardo stressed that he wants to race for Red Bull again and that competing for AlphaTauri is a way to achieve his goal.
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Speaking at the Hungaroring, Rosberg questioned why the fan favourite made it “so clear” that he wants to return to Red Bull, given the pressure that comes with a target that challenging to achieve.
“The one thing I will say, it’s unnecessary, that Daniel makes it so clear that he is here to get back into the Red Bull Racing team,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1 last weekend.
The German added: “It’s unnecessary extra pressure that he has set himself. I would have played that a bit differently and downplayed it a little bit.”
Ricciardo’s first weekend with AlphaTauri actually went very well, with him having out-qualified Yuki Tsunoda.
The eight-time race winner progressed to Q2 and claimed 13th on the grid for Sunday’s race, a position he finished in.
He once again defeated Tsunoda in the race, despite having been bumped by Zhou Guanyu on the opening lap.
Ricciardo was hit from behind which sent him into Pierre Gasly, something which caused the Aussie to fall to the back of the field.
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He recovered well though to beat his team-mate; however, Ricciardo believes points could’ve been scored if it wasn’t for the incident with Zhou.
“If we stayed ahead and held position at the start I believe we could have really fought for a points finish today,” he told reporters, as reported by the Mirror.
“I had a look at the end. There was a little bit of damage on the back of the diffuser, but the team said it was pretty much okay. I’d love to say I could have gone a second quicker but I think the car was more or less fine!”