Jolyon Palmer thinks a Formula 1 driver would be a ‘shoo-in’ for a seat with Red Bull in 2025 if he was Daniel Ricciardo of Visa Cash App RB after a ‘superb’ start to the year.
A vacancy may open in Milton Keynes at the end of 2024 with Sergio Perez among the many drivers out of contract. More than half of the F1 grid entered this season with expiring deals. Ricciardo is also racing for RB on a one-year contract but has a long-term deal with Red Bull.
Red Bull sent Ricciardo to Visa Cash App RB while the Faenza outfit still ran as AlphaTauri to replace Nyck de Vries from the 2023 Hungarian GP. The 34-year-old started last year as Red Bull’s reserve driver but is now striving to secure a race seat there while in their junior team.
Jolyon Palmer feels Red Bull would promote Daniel Ricciardo with Yuki Tsunoda’s form
Yet Ricciardo has endured a tough start to 2024 and is falling out of contention for a drive at Red Bull next year. The Australian ranks 17th in the 21-strong drivers’ championship through four rounds. He is also still yet to score a point, while RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda has seven.
READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents
Tsunoda has taken two top-10 finishes this term with P7 in the Australian GP and P10 in the Japanese GP. The 23-year-old has also out-qualified Ricciardo at each race yet. Now, Palmer feels Red Bull would not hesitate to promote Ricciardo to replace Perez with Tsunoda’s form.
He told F1’s website: “The problem for Daniel is that he’s not there to be close to Tsunoda or to be a reliable number two to Tsunoda – or even to be nip and tuck with his teammate.
“The reason that Ricciardo was brought back with much fanfare last season was solely with a view to being a potential Red Bull replacement, and that looks a fair way off right now…
“As much as Daniel is struggling at the start of this season, you have to say that Yuki is also driving superbly and is surely putting himself on the map for a better drive next year – be it at Red Bull or potentially even Aston Martin, who are switching to Honda engines for 2026.
“If you swapped the performances of Daniel and Yuki around right now, you’d say Ricciardo would be a shoo-in at Red Bull for next year. And that’s as much of a compliment as Tsunoda can hope for at this early stage.”
Daniel Ricciardo is less likely to replace Sergio Perez but Yuki Tsunoda is not in favour
Ricciardo has so far only finished ahead of Tsunoda in 2024 at the Bahrain GP as Visa Cash App RB issued team orders. They finished P13 and P14 before finishing the Saudi Arabian GP in P16 and P15. Ricciardo took P12 in the Australian GP, but crashed out of the Japanese GP.
READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Daniel Ricciardo’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Now, Jake Boxall-Legge reports for Autosport that Ricciardo is ‘looking less likely by the day’ to replace Perez at Red Bull. But Edd Straw of The Race reports that Red Bull will not look at Tsunoda owing to his often heated outbursts and slow development as a driver in Formula 1.
A move to Aston Martin in 2025 like Palmer suggests could be on offer for Tsunoda, though. Fernando Alonso is out of contract in Silverstone after 2024. Aston Martin will also become a works Honda engine team in 2026 and Tsunoda has been a Honda junior driver since 2016.
Tsunoda is now in his fourth season in Formula 1 after debuting with AlphaTauri at the 2021 Bahrain GP. But he is still yet to record a podium finish and boasts just 68 career points over 70 entries. The Japanese talent’s best Grand Prix result is P4 at the Abu Dhabi GP in 2021.
The post ‘A shoo-in’: Palmer thinks 0-podium F1 driver would get Red Bull seat if he was Ricciardo appeared first on F1 Oversteer.