Mika Häkkinen says Daniel Ricciardo's inability to clearly explain why his results with McLaren have been so disappointing is "a bit scary".
Ricciardo's tenure with the papaya squad will conclude at the end of the season, after a two-year stint with the Woking-based outfit the produced one exceptional win, at Monza last year, and countless bad races.
The Aussie's deficit to team mate Lando Norris on any given Sunday has been clear and consistent, but the reasons behind the shortfall are anything but clear-cut.
And yet Ricciardo aspires to return to the front of the grid after a year on the sidelines and a productive reset.
But Häkkinen doubts the eight-time Grand Prix winner would enjoy a successful comeback to F1 if the fundamental reason behind his current failure to perform isn't identified.
"His performance has been dropping, he’s not going flat-out there," Hakkinen said, speaking on The Race F1 Podcast
"So people are not sure with him if he’s quick enough.
"That could make it difficult having a year off and coming back because if you’re not quick enough, there’s always some kind of explanation, some reason.
"And I feel he’s not giving this information very clearly to media, to fans, to the team.
"That’s a bit scary. You have to know why I’m not able to maximise my performance to the same level as my team-mate."
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Regarding Ricciardo's plan to spend a year on the sidelines and to return to the grid in 2024, Häkkinen recalled how his own personal situation panned out at the end of 2001 when he decided to take a sabbatical.
"I thought ‘OK if you feel like it I’d appreciate it, I will see what happens’," he recalled.
"But I did recognise after three-four months, when the season [2002] started and I was in Monaco or wherever I was, I was definitely feeling like ‘no way I wanted to go back there’.
"It requires so much energy, so much power from your body and physiologically, a lot of energy.
"I knew that it doesn’t matter if I have one year off, I cannot come back. I already knew that halfway through the season that I’m not coming back.
"If Daniel decides to have one year off, from experience I know once you leave this sport normally you shouldn’t come back.
"You can’t perform out there while thinking ‘should I retire or not’. [You have to] go flat-out every second."
Häkkinen conceded however that as a two-time F1 world champion, he had fulfilled his goals at the time.
"My position was a little bit different because I was already a two-time World Champion, I’d achieved my goals. Daniel has a different situation."
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