Daniel Ricciardo has singled out George Russell and Pierre Gasly among Formula 1’s top performers from the 2020 season.
Personally, the Australian, who moves to McLaren for 2021, enjoyed a better second year at Renault, claiming two podiums en route to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and even cheekily naming himself as one of the best drivers on the grid.
However, looking elsewhere, Ricciardo couldn’t help but be impressed by how Russell handled his chance at Mercedes for the Sakhir Grand Prix, where he qualified second and looked on course for victory before a tyre mix-up at a pit-stop.
“It’s hard to know how good they are until they step up towards the front of the grid – not only to see if they are fast enough but also if they can handle the pressure of being up at the front,” Ricciardo told the Australian GP’s In the Fast Lane podcast, referring to Russell who races full-time at Williams.
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“George didn’t need to get pole [in Bahrain] to kind of prove he’s got the talent, but he was so close. I think the more impressive thing for him was to get a good start, get into the lead and control a big part of that race. That’s where he really earned his stripes.
“I think he proved that yes, the car is amazing and whatnot, but he proved he is certainly the real deal. He’s one of those younger kids that I think has now proven himself.”
Ricciardo then moved onto Gasly, who continued his great form since being dropped back to Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri midway through 2019 and even claimed a maiden F1 win at Monza.
“It’s hard to put one of Gasly and Russell in front of the other, I think they both had really strong seasons,” said the 31-year-old.
“Gasly won a crazy race but he [also] qualified fourth in some others and he’s been there – especially being, in a way, kind of spat out of the Red Bull system. He’s still in it, but it felt like he was as good as out of it.
“It definitely took a bit of mental resilience from him and it’s not easy when you’ve got the media and everyone saying you’re not good enough, so hats off to him for making it a really strong year.”
Gasly would end the year 10th in Drivers’ standings, ahead of Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel, all of whom had faster cars for much of the season.