Jones challenges Ricciardo to change focus

AUSTRALIAN Formula One great Alan Jones has challenged Daniel Ricciardo to sharpen his focus ahead of the 2022 season.

Max Verstappen won his first championship in the most dramatic of circumstances in December, overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to seal victory.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo finished 12th in the race and was lapped after struggling to find pace across the course of the weekend.

Jones said in hindsight he 32-year-old shouldn’t have left Red Bull, where he was previously a teammate of Verstappen, with Ricciardo winning his first Grand Prix as a McLaren driver earlier this year at Monza.

“At the time he felt he was getting second-hand treatment while Max [Verstappen] was in the team,” he said on Sportsday.

“He was offered an opportunity to go to Renault and then had a second chance going to McLaren which are going really well.

“In hindsight he shouldn’t have left Red Bull but I understand why he did.

“In all honestly he needs to focus on what’s going on in the cockpit rather than what’s going on out of it.

“Every time there’s a statement to be made, Daniel is there fritting around the place. I think he should be more head down, bum up and getting on with it.”

Ricciardo finished eighth in the 2021 championship in his inaugural season at McLaren.

– BY LAURENCE ROSEN/ SEN