"It was great to see Daniel Ricciardo quieten his critics": F1 pundit backs the Australian after Jacques Villeneuve's criticism

F1 pundit Natalie Pinkham said it was great to see Daniel Ricciardo quieten critics like Jacques Villeneuve with his performance on track in Canada. The Australian was the target of a blunt rant from the Canadian, where the former champion questioned why Ricciardo was even a part of the sport.

Jacques Villeneuve further claimed that Daniel Ricciardo's career was somewhat overhyped, and throughout his years he'd not beaten anyone meaningful in all of this. The comments drew the Aussie's ire, as he was visibly upset when the topic was brought up to him.

Responding to the comments made by the former champion, Daniel Ricciardo had told the Canadian to 'Eat S**t' in the media. Even though Villeneuve has made a few retaliatory remarks against the Aussie, the Australian had the last laugh as his performances spoke for itself. He started the race in P5, ahead of the Mercedes and Aston Martins, and will end up finishing the race in P8.

Talking about this on the F1 Nation podcast, Natalie Pinkham was happy that Daniel Ricciardo responded to the criticism by taking action on the track. She said,

"Jacques is entitled to his opinion. I think it was a somewhat over simplistic view of Daniel’s career. To say he’s been five years in the sport, and struggled throughout, isn’t true. He lost his seat at McLaren due to poor performance then earned it back at AlphaTauri. Only to break his hand, and earn it back again."

He added,

“Jacques is entitled to his opinion but it was great to see Daniel quieten his critics in the best possible way, on the track.

Daniel Ricciardo's weekend in Canada the strongest since his return

Pinkham's co-presenter Tom Clarkson, also weighed in on the situation and felt that it was great to see Ricciardo perform in what was probably his weekend since his return. He said,

“He came in for some criticism from former world champion Jacques Villeneuve. I don’t know whether that was the source of motivation for Daniel but I’d say it was a really strong weekend for him. Certainly his strongest since he came back to F1 in the middle of last season."

Daniel Ricciardo has had a strong weekend this time around and scored points for RB. Even though this is surely a positive, the driver can't afford to sit on his laurels as the next three races are going to be crucial for him.

The driver has been comprehensively outperformed by RB team Yuki Tsunoda this season. The race in Canada was a welcome change where Ricciardo was in the groove but he will have to continuously show this level of performance if he has to keep his seat and stave off the critics.