Ricciardo’s Cheeky Call to Bring Back Piquet Jr. Amidst Singapore GP Struggles

Daniel Ricciardo humorously suggests 'call Nelson Piquet back' to rescue his Singapore Grand Prix

"Hopefully, we'll have a perfectly timed safety car. Let’s bring Piquet back into the mix and see it unfold."

Daniel Ricciardo humorously expressed his wish for Nelson Piquet Jr. to return to Formula 1, suggesting it could salvage his weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix, in a nod to the notorious 2008 Crashgate incident.

Ricciardo was eliminated in the first qualifying round at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, potentially marking his last F1 qualifying appearance.

The future of the Australian in Formula 1 is currently uncertain, with speculation indicating that he might be substituted by Liam Lawson at next month's United States Grand Prix.

Ricciardo's recent poor showing is unlikely to boost his prospects, especially as Yuki Tsunoda, driving the other VCARB, advanced to Q3.

True to Ricciardo's characteristic wit, he made light of the circumstance by humorously suggesting that he'd like Piquet Jr. to return to the racing lineup, hoping for a strategically placed Safety Car like in 2008, which could help him advance his position.

Renault instructed the Brazilian driver to deliberately cause a crash to trigger the deployment of the Safety Car, aiding Fernando Alonso in securing victory at Singapore's first-ever race.

"Clearly, the situation with Q1 is disappointing. Given everything that's happening, I genuinely believed we would have a good day today. That's why I'm mostly wondering, how did we find ourselves in Q1?" Ricciardo expressed, according to Autosport.

I strive to maintain a positive outlook, but today was overwhelmingly negative. Thus, I'll seek solace in my ice bath, where I'll likely be found tomorrow, adrift.

"Optimistically, a timely deployment of the safety car could work in Piquet's favor. Let's bring him back into contention."

Ricciardo demonstrated impressive speed during the practice sessions, indicating that VCARB could be the fifth quickest team as they moved into the qualifying rounds.

Nonetheless, the ex-Red Bull racer's efforts unraveled due to subpar results with the soft tires.

"Ricciardo mentioned, "There wasn't much alteration from our side. We felt positive since yesterday put us in a strong position, so we didn't feel the need to make drastic changes. To tell you the truth, using the medium tires this morning felt right; it seemed we were picking up right where we left off. However, switching to the soft tires, I just couldn't find the same pace."

"We made some adjustments for the qualifying round, and I believed things would turn out fine, but once more, I didn't feel at ease using the soft tires.

"I'd describe it as quite dismal. We were at a certain place just yesterday, truly, and it caught us off guard… There were no major errors, yet as soon as I finished, I could tell it wasn't fast. It simply didn't have a good feel to it.

Today, one might argue, "oh, that approach was ineffective," yet we attempted it three times and failed to show competitiveness in any of those attempts.

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