Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo tactic has failed. But not so much that he deserves the current uncertainty about his immediate future, not to mention being taken out of the 2024 Formula 1 races with six races to go.
Ricciardo delivered a disappointing performance in Red Bull’s second team, contrary to his own expectations and those of his employer.
He was brought in as a long-term alternative for Red Bull Racing, as a backup if Sergio Perez continued to struggle. Ricciardo himself had this dream return in mind, wanting to prove that he could still compete at the top of Formula 1 after two increasingly tough years on the bench at McLaren.
Unfortunately, Ricciardo has been OK so far, but that’s all. The occasional impressive highlights – like fourth place in the Miami sprint, his overall weekend in Canada and qualifying in Hungary – and the occasional anonymous weekend have cancelled each other out, leaving a string of slightly inconsistent performances and slightly disappointing results.
But it hasn’t been much different for Yuki Tsunoda, as RB’s competitiveness in midfield has waned and his development has been patchy at best. And while qualifying for Singapore was a return to the bloody results against teammate Ricciardo that he’s had almost never experienced before, it would be extremely harsh to argue that Ricciardo’s form is so bad that he needs to be ruled out.
And yet Red Bull seems to be considering just that. Red Bull bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, as well as Ricciardo’s direct team boss Laurent Mekies, had ample opportunity this weekend to state categorically that Ricciardo will not be thrown out of the race during the four-week racing break in September/October.
They decided against it. They almost did the opposite – and thereby opened the door wide to replace Ricciardo with Liam Lawson.
That may sound logical. If Ricciardo’s time is up at the end of the year and Lawson is the future, then it makes sense to continue. However, the logic does not seem so clear-cut. Not least because there is talk of having to evaluate Lawson or get him in the car to get answers. But what more would Red Bull need to know about the driver who already stood in for Ricciardo last season and put in a strong performance?
This points to further, greater uncertainty. Maybe Lawson will get a chance at RB to claim Sergio Perez’s place at Red Bull in 2025? It’s all pretty unclear.
Performance-wise, that makes little sense. RB are clinging to sixth place in the championship and qualifying in Singapore is the first time in months that Ricciardo has missed an obvious opportunity to do better. This is not a situation like Logan Sargeant, where Williams finally had to abandon a driver who was nowhere near the required level.
There is no clear performance reason to drop Ricciardo NowOr to believe that Lawson would be a great addition right away.
If it’s about preparing for the future, that’s fine. But why hesitate? The decision should already have been made. Why is Ricciardo surrounded by such uncertainty? Why subject him to a weekend of uncomfortable questions, cast a shadow over him and potentially let him drive his last race… without him really knowing?
A driver of his caliber, who has given a lot to Red Bull, deserves more than such a sad ending, even if his career is coming to an end. His achievements do not justify the embarrassment of being fired in the middle of the season.
Everything indicates that this is a consequence of the general confusion among the Red Bull drivers, but we should discuss that another time. Ricciardo may not have much of a future at Red Bull.
But the fact that history has reached this point is inappropriate and unfair, even by the strict standards for mid-season driver changes.
