Why Ricciardo must avoid a repeat of his final Red Bull days

As Daniel Ricciardo reflects on where it all went wrong during the worst year of his Formula 1 career in 2021, his crash helmet would perhaps be a good place to start.

’All Good All Ways’ was the theme of his first season as a McLaren driver, with the slogan sitting atop his lid also lending itself to a range of clothing available from his official website.

But as Ricciardo struggled to adequately support team-mate Lando Norris last season – despite a well-taken win in the Italian Grand Prix – as McLaren ultimately lost P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, his helmet design almost became symbolic of how one of F1’s great characters had perhaps lost his way.

2021 came as a shock to the system, but had arguably been a long time coming and could be traced all the way back to his decision in the summer of 2018 to leave Red Bull.

Ricciardo had held the pose in the years after his breakthrough 2014 season, a dazzling and joyous mix of poise, pace and natural charm, had run four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel out of town.

But, in hindsight, a clue to what could be argued as his ceiling – that he lacked the talismanic qualities the leading teams require from a star driver – came in 2015, when Red Bull, between eras and struggling with an uncompetitive Renault powertrain, dearly missed the magic and sense of purpose of their glory days.

That it all returned overnight with the signing of Max Verstappen – who won on his debut in Barcelona 2016 on a day Ricciardo, maybe feeling he was shafted by the wrong strategy – was revealing.

And if by mid-2018 Red Bull were very much in the process of becoming Verstappen’s team – Ricciardo feeling marginalised in the way his compatriot Mark Webber had once been alongside Vettel – there