Marc Priestley now wonders ‘how many opportunities’ one Formula 1 driver will get to keep his seat on the grid with ‘very serious’ questions needing to be answered quickly.
The grid for the 2025 season is already starting to take shape with only Alpine and Haas still to announce either driver. Only Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren have also locked in their line-ups for next year. Yet a host of talented drivers in and outside the F1 paddock are available.
Ferrari put Carlos Sainz in the shop window this February when they signed Lewis Hamilton to a multi-year deal. Fellow Grand Prix winners in Daniel Ricciardo of Visa Cash App RB and current Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are also set to see their contracts expire.
Marc Priestley feels Red Bull face ‘serious’ questions over Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 future
Alpine have already announced that Ocon will leave Enstone when his terms lapse, too. But Priestly also feels Ricciardo faces ‘very serious’ questions over his future for RB. The former McLaren mechanic thinks the Australian’s performances have ‘not been consistent enough’.
Ricciardo sits just 12th in the drivers’ standings ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP. His Visa Cash App RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda – who will stay in Faenza for another term next year – ranks 10th. But Ricciardo has only claimed nine points through nine rounds to Tsunoda’s 19.
READ MORE: F1 2024 teammate head-to-head battles including race, Sprint and qualifying
Tsunoda further heads Ricciardo in their head-to-head battles for Grand Prix finishes 6-3, in qualifying 7-2 and for top-10 results 5-1. Ricciardo recorded his first top-10 finish with P8 in the Canadian GP last time out, having also taken points in the Sprint at the Miami GP in P4.
But Ricciardo only scoring points in one of nine Grand Prix this year has left Priestly to think Red Bull must question if the 34-year-old deserves a place on the 2025 grid with their junior team. Red Bull also still have Liam Lawson waiting on the sidelines for a full-time drive in F1.
Priestley told BBC Radio 5 Live: “This is a question Red Bull are having to ponder now very seriously because the results have not been consistent enough.
“I guess the bigger question is how many opportunities, how much of a chance do you give somebody when there is a roster of young talent knocking on the door of Formula 1? That’s a decision Red Bull – via their RB team – are going to have to make in the coming weeks.”
Red Bull could take Daniel Ricciardo out of F1 by kicking him from RB
Visa Cash App RB have confirmed that Tsunoda will remain in Faenza next year after taking up an option in his contract. But Red Bull and RB are still to decide if Ricciardo will also stay. The Perth native is only contracted to RB for 2024 but holds a long-term deal with Red Bull.
Red Bull know exactly what Ricciardo can achieve in Formula 1 when racing a car that suits his driving style. Ricciardo earned all three of his career pole positions with the team from Milton Keynes, along with seven of his eight Grand Prix wins and 29 of his 32 podiums yet.
READ MORE: F1 2025 driver line-up with every team’s confirmed entry for the grid
But Ricciardo has only stood on the 2020 Eifel GP and Emilia Romagna GP podiums driving for Renault and won the 2021 Italian GP for McLaren since leaving Red Bull after 2018. His P8 in the 2024 Canadian GP also does not wipe away his unconvincing results beside Tsunoda.
If Red Bull do take Ricciardo out of Visa Cash App RB’s driver line-up for the 2025 season, though, they might also take him out of Formula 1. The product of Red Bull’s driver system stated ahead of the 2024 Spanish GP that he only sees his future in F1 in the Red Bull fold.
“Now that I’m back in the Red Bull family, I don’t really see myself anywhere else,” Ricciardo noted, via quotes by Motorsport-Total. “I want to be here because I know I still belong here and can still perform like I did [in Canada].”
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