Daniel Ricciardo is under pressure at RB. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda has comfortably beaten him in 2024, raising serious questions over his F1 future.
The Red Bull junior team handed Ricciardo a lifeline midway through last year when he was without a seat. McLaren had axed him in favour of compatriot Oscar Piastri at the end of 2022.
But as Nyck de Vries struggled in his rookie season, team bosses saw an opportunity to unleash the veteran. De Vries was out after the British Grand Prix, and Ricciardo took over.
His comeback was brief at first as he broke his wrist in an accident after just two races, with Liam Lawson subsequently stepping in. Ricciardo returned to finish the year and retained his spot alongside Tsunoda for 2024.
He may not have recognised at the time, but that crash in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix could have had huge ramifications for his career. It gave Lawson a chance to show what he could do.
And after the New Zealander impressed RB, there’s talk that they could make another mid-season driver change if Ricciardo continues to struggle. ‘No one would be surprised’, according to one journalist, if Lawson was in the car by the end of the year.
The consensus on Daniel Ricciardo in the paddock
Speaking on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast, journalist Nate Saunders shared what he’s heard about Ricciardo’s future. From his conversations within the paddock, the overriding sense is that he’s safe for now.
Saunders has rejected any notion that Red Bull have given their old driver an ‘ultimatum’ as Lawson waits in the wings. But they will still expect him to improve soon enough.
As it stands, Tsunoda leads the qualifying head-to-head 4-0 and has also scored all seven of the team’s points. Ricciardo has only beaten him in Bahrain, and that was with the aid of team orders.
Saunders said: “There’s been so many rumours about that situation and RB going in a different direction. Every single person I’ve spoken to has downplayed that and said that’s not the case – Ricciardo’s not been given an ultimatum to improve. That may well come later in the year if he doesn’t turn things round.”
Much as there remains a degree of patience, Red Bull director Helmut Marko has refused) to rule out putting Lawson in the car. In fact, he’s called it an ‘exciting’ prospect.
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull chances fading by the week
Ricciardo said recently that he’d be happy to continue at RB for another year but he must have been targeting a return to Red Bull at the start of 2024. He seemed ‘dead-cert’ to rekindle his partnership with Max Verstappen if he delivered.
Christian Horner and co. will have fond memories of Ricciardo’s first stint at Milton Keynes between 2014 and 2018, but those will only get him so far. He looks increasingly like a driver in decline.
Eddie Jordan believes that his time is up at the highest level of motorsport. And ex-F1 driver Thierry Boutsen feels he’s no longer ‘capable’ of recapturing his best form.
For his part, Ricciardo insists he’s still a driver who can win races in the right machinery. His immediate focus will be on striking back at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, where he’ll be running a new chassis.
The post ‘Every single person’ in F1 paddock is now saying the same thing about Daniel Ricciardo’s future - journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.