GrandPrix247 2022 Underperformer of the Year: Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo should not proud of this award, but the fact remains that even when his F1 career was at stake, the Honey Badger could not or did not do anything to save it.

What happened with Ricciardo after joining McLaren remains a mystery in a way that he could never get his head to work around the machinery produced in Woking.

As such Ricciardo was a shadow of his older self and was comprehensively beaten by teammate Lando Norris over their two years as teammates.

Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and while he, McLaren, and everyone else may have thought that he turned a corner, it turned out to be a false dawn.

While Norris beat Ricciardo in 2021 scoring 172 points compared to 123 for the latter, matters worsened in 2022 as the points tally was 122 to 37 respectively. Norris scored points almost four times more than Ricciardo.

That's from a statistics standpoint, but watching Ricciardo throughout the 2022 season showed that he has given up despite knowing that his seat was at risk, and was not even trying regardless of whatever he said.

The famous Daniel Ricciardo smile was scarcely seen, which spoke volumes of his psyche in 2022, and you could see he was miserable as he sat there helpless as compatriot Oscar Piastri waltzed his way into Woking, the team going to war with Alpine to secure his services.

Now we are not privy to what was going on behind the scenes at McLaren, but Ricciardo was not radiating any of his Honey Badger-ness in 2022, and just surrendered to his fate without putting up a decent fight.

Whether his days are over in F1 for good, or he can make a comeback through the back door now being a Red Bull reserve is yet to be seen, but Ricciardo's talent promised a lot early on and it would a pity if it turns out the 2022 is the end of the road for him. (Compiled by Jad Mallak)