Mid-season driver changes are rare in Formula 1, but far from unheard of. Just last year, AlphaTauri sacked Nyck de Vries midway through the campaign and brought in Daniel Ricciardo.
De Vries’ rookie year only lasted until the British Grand Prix, after which Ricciardo took over. The Australian had returned to the Red Bull family in a reserve role after losing his seat at McLaren.
Four years prior, the senior team axed Pierre Gasly midway through the campaign and called up Alex Albon to race alongside Max Verstappen. This was another example of ruthlessness from a team who had demoted Daniil Kvyat in favour of Verstappen just four races into 2016.
There was a slightly bizarre scenario in 2017 where Carlos Sainz made an early move to Renault for the final four races, one that cost Jolyon Palmer his drive and prompted a reshuffle. Gasly, Kvyat and Brendon Hartley all drove for Toro Rosso before the end of the season.
For the most part, teams have shown patience with under-performing drivers before making a final call at the end of the year. But sometimes, they feel compelled to push the button during the season.
Andrew Benson says RB and Williams could make in-season driver changes
According to BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson, RB’s Ricciardo and Williams’ Logan Sargeant could be the next victims. Neither driver has scored a point across the first four rounds of 2024.
Ricciardo, who crashed out of the last race in Japan on the opening lap, is losing 4-0 to Yuki Tsunoda in the qualifying head-to-head. Tsunoda has stolen the limelight at RB with back-to-back top-10 finishes.
If Ricciardo does lose his drive, then Liam Lawson is waiting in the wings to replace him. Lawson impressed when he stood in for an injured Ricciardo at five Grands Prix in the second half of last year.
Indeed, that’s why Christian Horner assured him that his time would come when RB opted for a Ricciardo and Tsunoda line-up this year. There’s been talk of a change around the Miami Grand Prix, but Red Bull have denied this.
Asked whether he anticipated any mid-season driver changes, he said: “This can happen any season in F1 and the people most at risk at the moment are Daniel Ricciardo at RB and Logan Sargeant at Williams.
“Ricciardo has had a difficult start to the season and Red Bull are notoriously unforgiving with their drivers. Since returning to F1 midway through last year, the Australian has gone from being talked about as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez at the senior team, to apparently being at risk of being dropped in favour of reserve driver Liam Lawson at the junior outfit.
“If Ricciardo’s performances don’t improve soon, the pressure on him – already high – will become intense. No one would be surprised if Lawson was in the car sooner or later in that scenario.
Logan Sargeant may be safe for now
Williams appear to have little confidence in Sargeant after benching him at the Australian Grand Prix. Team boss James Vowles allowed Albon to jump in his car after he severely damaged his own in a practice crash.
Nevertheless, Benson expects him to survive until the end of the year. But he isn’t completely ruling out hasty action there either.
“Williams have had a difficult start to the season on a number of levels and Sargeant’s performances in comparison to team-mate Alex Albon are far from their main concern. But they are a concern.
“Having said that, there doesn’t seem to be any desire to change things around mid-season, so Sargeant will probably survive until the end of the year, when he will likely be dropped if he has not upped his game.”
Has Daniel Ricciardo won a championship?
Losing a drive midway through a season would mark a new low for Ricciardo and cast serious doubts on his prospects of returning to Formula 1. Red Bull handed him a lifeline after McLaren let him go, but he’s yet to repay them.
While Peter Windsor feels it was a ‘terrible’ mistake to leave the Milton Keynes outfit in the first place, Ricciardo’s stock really started to fall after he left Renault to join McLaren. This is a driver who’s won eight Grands Prix and achieved 32 podiums across a 243-race F1 career.
During his pomp at Red Bull, like in the 2014 season when he comprehensively beat four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and took his first three victories, he looked capable of winning a title. But that increasingly appears an impossible dream now.
Ricciardo would point out that there are still 20 races to go in F1’s longest-ever season, giving him plenty of time to turn things around. While that’s true, it’s now very difficult to imagine him securing a Red Bull seat that may have been nailed-on if he’d delivered this year.
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