Daniel Ricciardo has addressed his future at RB after a tough start to the 2024 F1 season. Ricciardo has failed to score a point in any of the first four races.
Ricciardo is on the wrong end of a qualifying whitewash from teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who’s bagged all six RB’s points this season. He started the season looking a ‘dead-cert’ to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull if he delivered but now he’s fighting for his F1 future.
Speaking to Speedcafe, Ricciardo has discussed his current motivation levels. It’s his first full season back in F1 after replacing Nyck de Vries at what was then AlphaTauri midway through last year.
The 34-year-old is an eight-time Grand Prix winner but he lost his drive at McLaren at the end of 2022 after struggling to match teammate Lando Norris. Now his deficit to Tsunoda is raising questions over whether he should stay at RB.
One report even claimed that Ricciardo could lose his seat to reserve driver Liam Lawson if he didn’t improve by the Miami Grand Prix. Red Bull director Helmut Marko has since dismissed those suggestions, but it’s clear that the Australian is under pressure.
Daniel Ricciardo discusses whether he’s happy at RB
When Speedcafe asked him if he’d be happy to stay at RB for next year, Ricciardo said ‘the answer is’ yes as it stands. Independent of his difficulties this season, he’s grateful to be back behind the wheel.
However, he does admit that it’s ‘absolutely’ more rewarding to be competing at the front of the field rather than scrapping for the lower end of the points. Ricciardo has stood on the podium 32 times in his career, but not since his victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
“As I feel today, yes,” he said. “I’m enjoying the driving now; it’s not so much result-driven. Obviously, I don’t want to just be here to be here; I want to earn that seat and the team is hopefully further up.
“So yeah, I guess it goes both ways. I mean, the answer is yes. But is it more fun fighting at the front? Is it more fun fighting for podiums and wins? Absolutely.”
Why did Daniel Ricciardo leave Red Bull?
Ricciardo will still be holding out hope that he can find his way back to Red Bull, with 20 races of F1’s longest-ever season to go. But for many, this will raise questions over why he left in the first place.
He made the shock decision to depart during the 2018 season, jumping ship to Renault. While he managed to bag a couple of podiums with the French manufacturer and finished fifth in the 2020 championship, they clearly failed to meet his expectations.
That’s why he ditched them for McLaren for 2021, but aside from that victory at Monza, it was a disastrous spell that cost him his spot on the grid. Though he’s now managed to find a way back with RB, Peter Windsor feels he made a ‘terrible’ call six years ago.
It would have been a near-‘impossible’ task to beat a prime Max Verstappen, particularly with the Red Bull team built around him. But Ricciardo would still have been able to significantly boost his win tally from 2021 onwards when the Bulls took a step forward.
As it is, very few would bet on him adding a ninth before the end of his career. And if Tsunoda continues to dominate, that moment could come sooner than he thinks.
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