Daniel Ricciardo snubbed a swathe of ex-team-mates to name Pierre Gasly as the current Formula 1 driver who he believes to be the most underrated.
Across spells with HRT, Red Bull, Renault and McLaren, the Australian has raced with a vast array of talented drivers. And some of the best have been his team-mates, from current champion Max Verstappen to his current partner Lando Norris, regarded as one of the brightest talents in F1.
But Ricciardo ignored all of them to select Gasly as the one he feels is most underrated. The Frenchman is currently enduring a difficult season with strugglers AlphaTauri, but his career to this point has been a turbulent one.
After impressing in his first stint with the team, then operating under the Toro Rosso name, Gasly was given the chance to race for the sister outfit Red Bull. But his dream move soon turned into a nightmare which lasted for just 12 races, before he was ruthlessly replaced after a struggle to cope with the pressure.
Prior to this season's struggles with an uncompetitive car, the Frenchman impressed with AlphaTauri as he responded to his demotion in the best way. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons he was a regular sight in the top 10 and even produced a shock victory at Monza.
Ricciardo has clearly been impressed by his rival's performances, as he told Express Sport : "Personally, I like Pierre Gasly. For the record, he's not the only driver I like. I like him as a person, but also what he's demonstrated, and he's not the only one.
"Getting to the top of Red Bull, he got a really big opportunity with them and it was fairly short-lived. He got to the top, but as quickly as he got there, he got knocked back down. He's showing really good character traits, really good resilience because he's still fighting.
"Through all of that, he actually managed to win a race in 2020. He had a few podiums, so I think when everyone wrote him off, he came back even stronger. I'm happy for him as a human because I do like him, but as a competitor I respect that.
"Getting to the top is difficult, staying there is even harder. He went through a pretty big rollercoaster in 12 months, and I just know that he really fought back well from getting written off."
