It is still too early to draw firm conclusions, but after only four races, Ricciardo, Stroll, and the Williams team need reversals of fortune.
Following poor starts to the 2024 season, pressure was already building on Daniel Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB, Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, and the Williams F1 team. Unfortunately, results in Japan did not improve their respective plights. Here’s why.
—Ricciardo started the year aiming for a return to the Red Bull team, replacing an under-pressure Perez, whose contract ends at the season’s end. However, following three poor races in which current teammate Yuki Tsunoda had comfortably outperformed him, Ricciardo came into Japan fighting to keep his current race seat. One reason is that junior driver Liam Lawson is being touted as an imminent replacement.
Ricciardo needed a strong weekend, which he didn’t have. Tsunoda out-qualified him again (10, 11), with race results even more concerning (Tsunoda, 10th, Ricciardo 19th), meaning that the Australian didn’t score a point.
—Lance Stroll has always seemed irreplaceable at Aston Martin because his billionaire father, Lawrence, owns the team. But expectations are high following a strong 2023 campaign and a new engine deal agreement with Honda. To achieve Lawrence Stroll’s ultimate ambition of being Constructors World Champions, the team needs two genuine race-winning drivers, not just one in two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso. Those ambitions are not out of reach because Aston Martin is arguably one of the five quickest teams in Formula One, and that means both cars should be qualifying in the top 10 and scoring World Championship points. That’s not happening.
While Alonso finished 6th in Japan, Stroll qualified in 16th place and didn’t score a point in Sunday’s race, finishing 12th.
—Williams F1 went into the 2024 Australian GP without scoring a World Championship point on the season. It left Melbourne with the same result. Alex Albon damaged his car’s chassis in practice, and the damage was beyond repair. With no spare available, the team ran only one car during the GP weekend, and Logan Sargeant finished last. Williams arrived at the Japanese GP again with no spare chassis, so the team needed to run a clean race. That didn’t happen. Sargeant suffered a crash in the first practice, but the car was repairable this time. That good news didn’t translate into Sunday’s race; Sargeant finished in 17th place. Worse yet, Albon crashed out of the race and ended up in last place.
So, it was another Grand Prix weekend without World Championship points for Williams, and the team remains pointless in 2024.
It is still too early in the 2024 Formula Season to draw conclusions, but Ricciardo, Stroll, and Williams’ 2024 season is at risk unless reversals of fortune occur quickly.
