In the past week, the Red Bull group have confirmed two of their remaining three seats for the 2025 season and beyond.
Despite his awful form in recent weeks, Sergio Perez will continue as Max Verstappen’s teammate for at least the next year.
Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda was rewarded for his brilliant form at the start of 2024 with a contract extension.
The 24-year-old had been linked to several other seats on the grid including Alpine and potentially Audi but he’s now signed up for a fifth season with Red Bull’s sister team.
Max Verstappen is signed up until the end of the 2028 season and despite Mercedes wanting to sign him, he doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
That leaves Daniel Ricciardo as the only driver in the Red Bull group who hasn’t been rewarded with a new contract for next year.
A report from Formu1a.uno has shared how senior personnel within the team feel about Ricciardo and his future.
Liam Lawson is leading a growing list of Red Bull junior drivers waiting for their chances to race in Formula 1.
Ricciardo seems like the obvious candidate to leave should Christian Horner and Helmut Marko decide they want to promote from within.
Senior Red Bull staff give verdict on Daniel Ricciardo’s future
Red Bull may find themselves with a conundrum to solve in the coming weeks and months.
With other teams less interested in Ricciardo, it appeared as though despite being the stronger driver this season, Tsunoda was the more likely star to move on.
Liam Lawson has shared that a clause in his contract means he is almost guaranteed a spot on the grid next year.
However, he’s not high on any other team’s shortlists meaning it’s hard to see him on the grid unless it’s with RB.
It would appear as though it’s a straight shootout between Ricciardo and Lawson to partner Tsunoda next season, even though Isack Hadjar is driving brilliantly in Formula 2.
However, fortunately for Ricciardo, senior staff at Red Bull seem to be very happy with the Australian.
Christian Horner is a huge fan and was instrumental in his return to the team 12 months ago.
Daniel Ricciardo safe at V-CARB despite not signing a new contract yet
The report from Formu1a.uno shares more details about Ricciardo’s future.
They believe that Ricciardo was expected to kick on after having a full pre-season to prepare for this campaign and defeat Tsunoda in the intra-team battle.
However, Tsunoda has been the better driver and is now seen as a ‘valuable asset’ by both Red Bull and teams outside of the group.
While it wasn’t enough to earn him a promotion, they would rather he was still an ally rather than a rival at another manufacturer.
Formu1a.uno believe that Ricciardo’s position is considered ‘quite safe’ at this stage.
He still has the support of senior personnel at Red Bull and V-CARB including Horner and RB team principal Laurent Mekies.
However, Marko is less certain about Ricciardo’s future and said to Sky Germany over the race weekend in Canada: “Racing Bulls is still a junior team.
“So you have to think about what will happen in the future.”
“We also have two very good people in [Isack] Hadjar and [Ayumu] Iwasa.”
Marko’s influence at Red Bull appears to be diminishing though and that may give Ricciardo hope that he’ll be rewarded with another contract.
Where that leaves Lawson and Red Bull’s other junior drivers is yet to be seen.
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