F1: Drivers who are underperforming after two races

• Unless you’re Max Verstappen, there’s still room for growth in the 2024 Formula One season after two races.
• We look at drivers who have a lot of room for improvement this season.

Unless you’re Max Verstappen, there’s still room for growth in the 2024 Formula One season after two races.

We look at drivers who have a lot of room for improvement this season.

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo. Photo/ F1

Daniel Ricciardo has likely fallen to third on that list after rejoining RB for the entire season, which is intended to serve as an audition against Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda for the latter’s 2025 Red Bull race seat.

The Honey Badger hasn’t done anything in the first two races to convince Red Bull that he can compete with Max Verstappen, much alone surpassing him. It’s not like he can even defeat Tsunoda.

In consecutive races, Ricciardo was outqualified by his teammate; in Bahrain, he was down ninth, and in Saudi Arabia, he was down half a second. The races didn’t make everything better.

The eight-time Grand Prix winner has yet to establish his dominance in the Red Bull seat, and he needed the team to step up in Bahrain to pass Tsunoda. The only silver lining in that situation was the way Ricciardo handled his teammate’s meltdown during a spin in Saudi Arabia, and he did so directly in front of Perez as the latter attempted to pass him.

Indeed, it wouldn’t be shocking if RB moved toward Ricciardo’s position today in an attempt to insert Liam Lawson, the super sub from last year, into the vehicle.

Though it’s early and he could still be getting used to things after months off the grid, Ricciardo’s 2021/22 problems at McLaren indicate that things might become really bad very soon if he doesn’t settle in.

Kevin Magnussen

The only thing positive to say about Kevin Magnussen’s season debut is his inventive defense—so inventive that it earned him a 20-second penalty. Maybe the beginning of his final Formula One season—dare I say it?

Magnussen started this season with the intention of at least matching his teammate because Haas’ B-spec from the previous year looked to fit him a little bit better than Nico Hulkenberg. However, with the German winning the races and qualifying, there has been little indication of that.

Hulkenberg annihilated Magnussen in the first qualifying round, putting his teammate’s VF-24 into the top ten despite Magnussen being seven-tenths behind. We’ll never know if Saudi Arabia may have been a replay since Hulkenberg was unable to establish a time in Q2 due to an electrical issue.

However, he outran his teammate in the Grand Prix to record Haas’ first point of the year, even though he started behind him at the Jeddah track.

Magnussen may have received plaudits for giving up his race to support Hulkenberg, but the very careless defense he used against Albon and Tsunoda was penalized appropriately.

Haas management may reassess after Ollie Bearman, a rookie driver for Ferrari and a Haas reserve, scored points on his debut with a faultless effort.

Gasly and Ocon

Alpine have had a tough start to the season.|PHOTO: Racingnews365|

It’s almost unjust to include Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon on the list because, let’s face it, the A524 is only described as sluggish and overweight, along with a few other unpleasant adjectives, not the drivers.

Both drivers were prepared for a challenging start to the season, but they were unaware of how challenging it would be.

Gasly’s gearbox problem was the only thing that could have put an end to the entire group of suffering, as he dropped out of the first qualifying round of both races, locked out the rear row in Bahrain before crossing the line in formation, and finished well outside of the points in both cases.

The teammates haven’t revealed who was happier in Jeddah: Ocon for being the first person to be lapped or Gasly for not having to operate the car.

Logan Sargeant

Logan Sargeant. Photo/ RaceFans

Before the season’s first race, James Vowles, the manager of the Williams team, stated that he needed to see Logan Sargeant improve.

He was P19 in Saudi Arabia and P18 on the Bahrain grid; the only things that kept him from going lower were Zhou Guanyu’s lengthy repair work and his inability to set a time limit. Alex Albon, a teammate, came in 13th and 12th, respectively.

After 24 hours, he was last seen in Bahrain due to a steering wheel issue, and he later finished P14 at the Jeddah track. He trailed Albon rather well in both races.

There are no justifications this year. If Sargeant doesn’t make significant progress in the upcoming races.