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Aussie motor racing great urges Daniel Ricciardo to reel in his social commitments and ‘shut the whole world out’ to give himself a chance of success at Australian F1 Grand Prix

  • Daniel Ricciardo needs to be focused on performing
  • Aussie motor racing great David Brabham wants grid results
  • Brabham fears Ricciardo is struggling to stay relevant in F1
  • Australian F1 Grand Prix to be staged from 3pm on Sunday

Australian motor racing great David Brabham has urged Daniel Ricciardo to ‘shut the whole world out’ so he can give himself every opportunity to silence the doubters in Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.

Ricciardo, 34, is one of the most popular identities in the sport, but Brabham wants to see results from the Perth-born driver on the grid – starting in Melbourne.

It follows two poor recent showings in Bahrain (13th) and Saudi Arabia (16th), with Ricciardo’s career potentially on the line.

‘[As it stands], he may not have enough mojo to perform at the level that Red Bull would be happy with,’ Brabham, who famously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2009, told Wide World of Sports.

‘He’s not there to play second fiddle to [teammate Yuki] Tsunoda, so the pressure already will undoubtedly be mounting on him.

Australian motor racing great David Brabham has urged Daniel Ricciardo to 'shut the whole world out' so he can excel in Sunday's Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park

Australian motor racing great David Brabham has urged Daniel Ricciardo to ‘shut the whole world out’ so he can excel in Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park 

Ricciardo, 34, is one of the most popular identities in the sport, but Brabham wants to see results from the Perth born driver on the grid

Ricciardo, 34, is one of the most popular identities in the sport, but Brabham wants to see results from the Perth born driver on the grid

Ricciardo was 12th in the second practice session (pictured) on Friday afternoon - and is targeting a top 10 finish come the main race on Sunday

Ricciardo was 12th in the second practice session (pictured) on Friday afternoon – and is targeting a top 10 finish come the main race on Sunday

‘Tsunoda is outperforming him. ‘He [Ricciardo] needs to dig deep, and perhaps even move away from the joker role he has.’

Brabham added he is aware Ricciardo is ‘extremely popular and likeable’, but wants to see him ‘shut the world out and focus on performing’ for his own sake.

Ricciardo was 12th in the second practice session on Friday afternoon.

And if Ricciardo is feeling the pressure, he isn’t showing it.

‘I think from the outside some people are like, ‘Oh, is it panic mode? Or is it crisis mode?,’ the home grown star said.

‘I’m always excited. I know that we probably won’t win this weekend, but maybe we can be in the top 10 and get a little bag of points.’

There will be one more practice session for the F1 superstars on Saturday from 12.30pm AEDT, before qualifying begins at 4pm.

The main race is at 3pm local time on Sunday. 

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