On Friday, Villeneuve questioned Ricciardo’s place on the grid, arguing he’s yet to deliver since leaving Red Bull in 2018.
“We’re hearing the same thing now for the last 4-5 years, ‘we have to make the car better for him’, ‘poor him’,” the Canadian said on Sky Sports.
“Sorry. It’s been 5 years of that. No. You’re in F1.
“If you can’t cut it, go home. There’s someone else to take your place.”
Ricciardo responded in the best possible manner, delivering a fifth-place qualifying result for tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix.
That will see him start the race ahead of both Ferraris (Charles Leclerc 11th, Carlos Sainz 12th), Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez (16th), and his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda (eighth).
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“I still don’t know what he said, but I heard he’s been talking shit,” Ricciardo said of Villeneuve after qualifying.
“But he always does. I think he’s hit his head a few too many times – I don’t know if he plays ice hockey or something.
“Anyway, won’t give him the time of day, but all those people can suck it. I want to say more but it’s alright. We’ll leave him behind.”
Fifth in qualifying comes off the back of a tough weekend in Monaco, where he failed to fire in the Saturday session which ultimately compromised his race.
It also came just minutes after RB confirmed it had taken up an option with Tsunoda for 2025 while Ricciardo’s own future remains uncertain.
“I’ve obviously been highly motivated to do more than I had been this year,” Ricciardo explained.
“Obviously Miami was a bit of a one off, but I know how good those results feel, and that’s why I do it, to feel those highs.
“Coming into the week, everything felt right. I was really happy just to come back to this circuit and drive here, because I love it.
“Today’s 10 years to the day of my first win, and that day changed my life, so there’s just a lot of nice emotions coming into it.
“I just felt like I was ready to do some good shit.”
On top of his own mindset, Ricciardo explained that he’s felt more comfortable in the car throughout the weekend.
“From when we put it down yesterday on track, obviously FP1 not so much, but FP2 a little bit more laps got done, I just had confidence in it,” he reasoned.
“The car felt good. I was able to slide it and drive a little bit more aggressively.
“So that just felt like I was getting on top of it.
“But also, part two is, we’re always going to be trying to perfect the car, but I also have to look at myself and make sure that I’m in a good place to be able to do results like this.
“It’s obviously been a bit harder for me to find that sweet spot this year.
“I look back at 10 years ago, I think it was kind of effortless.
“After Monaco I tried to just understand… I was always looking at on-track stuff – can I brake later here, or do this and that – but I was like hey, what’s maybe some other things that are affecting my performance?
“Am I coming into a race weekend not feeling energised, or not feeling this or that?”
That has resulted in a more positive mindset ahead of Canada, translating in his best qualifying for a grand prix since last year’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Canadian Grand Prix begins at 14:00 local time on Sunday (04:00 AEST Monday).
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