David Coulthard thinks 34-y/o F1 driver must ‘blow away’ teammate in 2024

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David Coulthard thinks Daniel Ricciardo has to ‘blow Yuki Tsunoda away’ as the Visa Cash App RB driver must ‘do more’ given the questions over his teammate’s talents.

The Faenza squad handed Ricciardo and Tsunoda contracts to continue driving for the team as they transition from AlphaTauri to Visa Cash App RB last September. It marked Ricciardo’s return to a full-time Formula 1 drive. While Tsunoda will spend his fourth season at the outfit.

Ricciardo returned to Faenza last July ahead of the Hungarian GP to replace Nyck de Vries in the AT04. Red Bull decided that enough was enough as De Vries did not score a single point in 10 rounds as a rookie. So, Ricciardo came in from his reserve driver role in Milton Keynes.

Yuki Tsunoda beat Daniel Ricciardo in their 2023 head-to-head

Yet his crash in practice at the Dutch GP in August saw Ricciardo miss five Grand Prix until late October. The 34-year-old then built on his return by claiming points in P7 at the Mexico City GP. A six-point haul from P4 on the grid were also the Australian’s only points all season.

Tsunoda scored 17 points last year with six top-10 finishes and one top-eight in a Sprint. But the 23-year-old only finished higher than P10 at the United States GP (P8), the Sao Paulo GP (P9, plus P6 in the Sprint) and the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP (P8) through the 22 rounds.

A P4 finish at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP during his rookie season remains Tsunoda’s best result in Formula 1. Yet the Japanese talent beat Ricciardo in their head-to-head battle last year as teammates for AlphaTauri. He scored 15 points to the Australian’s six while sharing a garage.

David Coulthard feels Daniel Ricciardo ‘he’s got to be doing more’

Tsunoda also edged Ricciardo 4-3 for Grand Prix results, 4-3 in qualifying and set the fastest lap in one race. The pair were evenly matched at 1-1 during the two Sprint events following Ricciardo replacing De Vries. But Tsunoda scored points in a Sprint, plus in more Grand Prix.

So, former Red Bull racer, Coulthard, believes Ricciardo must blow Tsunoda away over a full season as teammates in 2024. Tsunoda is still yet to convince the 13-time Grand Prix winner of his talents. While Ricciardo is an eight-time Grand Prix winner and has made 32 podiums.

Coulthard said on the Formula for Success podcast: “He’s got to be the biggest personality in the paddock. But, at 34, I think he’s got to be doing more relative to Yuki.

“I think he needs to be blowing Yuki away quite frankly. Because do we honestly think Yuki is a future Max [Verstappen] or a future Lewis [Hamilton]?”