It was 12 months ago on the podium of Monte Carlo that the Formula One world got to see the serious side of Daniel Ricciardo for the first time.
He first came into the series mid-season in 2011 with the Hispania Racing Team. Ever since then the Australian has charmed the paddock with his smile, friendly nature and willingness to have fun in a sport that can be accused of taking things far too seriously at times.
As he rose up the echelons of Formula One, with Toro Rosso and then Red Bull Racing, that affable personality stayed at the forefront despite him graduating from the back of the grid to the midfield to fighting for podiums and race wins.
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But the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix showed that just because he came across as easy going it did not mean that was also his approach to the sport.
Ricciardo had been in superb form, claiming his first career pole position and then dominating the opening laps in the damp conditions around the streets of the principality, but a botched pit stop by his Red Bull team dropped him behind Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes-GP.
Despite being visibly quicker, there was no way past for the Australian and he had to be content with second place.
This was a season in which Mercedes were the dominant force in F1, and they would go on to win a record 19 races that year, so there was no disgrace in being best of the rest.
But Ricciardo knew that he had nailed it and yet had lost out. He was devastated, and there was no attempt to hide it or to show solidarity to his team for their costly error.
“I told them after the race that nothing they can say will make me feel better,” he had said in the post-race news conference, while holding the kind of demeanour that even the most amateur body language expert could have picked up on.
The anguish was obvious, given the strength of Mercedes, Ricciardo feared Monaco was his last chance to win a race that season, adding to his three victories from 2014.
He was to be proven wrong as he would get to stand on the podium later that year when an engine failure for Hamilton promoted him to top spot at Malaysia in October.
Fast-forward 12 months from the despair of Monaco 2016 and Ricciardo, 27, is back in Monte Carlo for this weekend’s sixth round of the season, and the Australian needs another big performance.
He and Red Bull have had a disappointing start to the campaign, with the Austrian team struggling to get anywhere near the performance levels of Mercedes and Ferrari.
But for Ricciardo it has been a frustrating time. A mixture of his own mistakes, poor reliability and the pace of teammate Max Verstappen have put him on the back foot. Though he leads his younger teammate by two points in the championship standings, as they sit fifth and sixth respectively, do not be fooled that he has had the better of the Dutchman.
Daniel Ricciardo on top of the podium at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. Clive Rose / Getty Images
Ricciardo crashed in qualifying in Australia, was outpaced by his 19-year-old teammate in the wet in China despite the teenager having started 19th, and was running behind Verstappen in Bahrain before a brake failure ended his Red Bull teammate’s race prematurely.
In Russia, a brake problem of his own sidelined Ricciardo, though he was also behind Verstappen at the time.
Then, two weeks ago in Spain, when Ricciardo finished third for his first podium of the year, it was marred by the fact Verstappen had been four-tenths of a second faster than him in qualifying and had been eliminated on the first lap in a collision with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
So Ricciardo could really do with at the very least out-performing Verstappen this weekend to remind everyone of just why he is so highly regarded in F1.
Verstappen is a formidable teammate, and while Ricciardo did outperform him for much of 2016, this season was always going to be tougher, given his Dutch colleague is getting more experienced by the race and is only in his third full season in the sport.
Max Verstappen finishes ahead of Daniel Ricciardo at the Chinese grand Prix. Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Ricciardo is also the victim of Formula One being renown for having a short memory. Ricciardo may have four race wins under his belt, and be the only man to beat Sebastian Vettel in the same machinery over a season, but his stock will take a hit if he continues to struggle alongside his younger teammate. And the timing couldn’t be worse either, with possible openings at Mercedes and Ferrari on the horizon for 2018.
On his day, Ricciardo is one of the best on the grid, and he came to prominence largely for his ability to make the most of he tools at his disposal and to always fight for a win when the chance presented itself.
He and Verstappen had both anticipated they would be challenging for the title this season, but that has not happened. The Renault engine is still no match for the power units of Mercedes and Ferrari, and the car lacks mechanical grip, too.
Daniel Ricciardo may be known as an affable personality but he remains a fierce competitor. Hassan Ammar / AP Photo
But, even though Ricciardo was more than a minute behind Hamilton at the chequered flag in Barcelona, he can still have hope for Sunday as Monaco is often a great equaliser in that you do not need lots of engine power to be quick there.
A solid car, which the Red Bull is, and driver skill can close the gap, so Ricciardo will know he has a genuine chance of being on the podium this weekend.
Even if it is not a race-winning challenge, beating Verstappen and re-establishing himself has to be the very minimum that he achieves over the next four days.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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