Daniel Ricciardo‘s underwhelming start to the 2024 season has become one of Formula One‘s major talking points.
The 34-year-old Australian’s return to Red Bull’s second team, known this year as Visa Cash App RB, was supposed to be the first step in a sensational return to the reigning world champions. That Cinderella story appears to have all but disappeared in just three races, though, with many wondering if Ricciardo will even stick with RB for the full season given how things have started.
His rough patch of form is even more stark when compared to his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, the perennially overlooked man in the other car. Is Ricciardo facing an early exit from RB? And what exactly does Tsunoda have to do to be considered for a step-up to the top team?
Is Ricciardo on thin ice?
A New Zealand Herald article immediately after the Australian Grand Prix suggested Ricciardo has already been issued a two-race ultimatum to improve, otherwise Kiwi driver Liam Lawson will replace him at the Miami Grand Prix. Lawson impressed in his five appearances as Ricciardo’s stand-in last year, with a best finish of ninth in Singapore.
A source close to Ricciardo and multiple sources across both of Red Bull’s teams told ESPN that the report of an ultimatum had “zero” truth to it. Suggestions of an early exit are premature, but a story like the Herald’s is always impossible to write off when it concerns Red Bull; the team has often used stories in the press as a means of motivating underperforming drivers, and Ricciardo’s form is already being openly discussed by people at both teams.
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Ricciardo’s lack of pace has been poorly timed, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz claiming a sensational win in Australia and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggesting afterward the former Toro Rosso driver could join Red Bull for 2025. ESPN sources with knowledge of the situation have indicated that this scenario is in play.
In the same media session in which he spoke about Sainz, Horner was asked by ESPN if Ricciardo was squandering his opportunity to make that move.
“I think it’s still very early in the year to even be thinking about next year,” Horner replied. “He’s a big boy and he’ll pick himself up, but sometimes the F1 driver can be a bit lonely, so a bit of encouragement is never a bad thing.”
Horner has always been a…
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