"Back then, he was stronger maybe": Daniel Ricciardo's former teammate Nico Hulkenberg admits there is drop-off in the Australian's performance level 

Daniel Ricciardo's former Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg has confirmed that there has been a drop in the Aussie's performances since their time in the 2019 season.

The duo were teammates for just once season at the French team where Ricciardo, fresh off his move from Red Bull, outshone Hulkenberg in the races and qualifying throughout the season. The German was subsequently dropped by Renault at the end of the season in favor of Esteban Ocon.

As per PlanetF1, Nico Hulkenberg claimed that Daniel Ricciardo was 'on the pace' straightaway in Renault hence his current performances 'don't make sense'. He said:

“No, it doesn’t really make sense, and I don’t understand it. He felt, in 2019 when he moved in, he was very competitive and on the pace.

“It’s tricky, especially from the outside, if you don’t have all the info and all the data, it’s tricky to judge. But yeah, I don’t know why. I think he’s still good but maybe, back then, he was stronger maybe.”

Daniel Ricciardo has been beaten by his Visa Cash App RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda in all three qualifying sessions and has also shown race pace deficit in all three races thus far in the 2024 season.

Daniel Ricciardo assesses his struggles in the 2024 season

Daniel Ricciardo has claimed that while assessing his struggles, it was a 'two part process' as he was seeing the data and asking the engineers as well.

Speaking with F1.com after the Australian GP, the Visa Cash App RB driver said:

“Obviously I look as much as I can into myself, into data, into onboards, how I’m driving, what’s making me do certain things. Obviously it’s a different car but it’s not that we’ve changed the whole philosophy – the handling and the characteristics are fairly similar.

“I think that’s why we’re probably a little bit, maybe unsure why we’re struggling so much, and certainly Yuki is very, very comfortable with it. I’m trying to get them to go around the car with a magnifying glass as well and make sure nothing’s off!"

The Aussie driver is yet to get into the top 10 of either qualifying or the race results and hasn't found his groove with the VCARB01 after three races while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda has recently scored an excellent P7 in Melbourne.

Ricciardo would hope to get over his issues quickly before he finds himself battling for a seat in F1 again, with Liam Lawson waiting in the shadows.