RB to review drivers’ performance after Singapore as Ricciardo speculation mounts · RaceFans

RB will conduct a review of its drivers’ performance following this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed.

Daniel Ricciardo’s position at the team next season has not been confirmed and some reports have suggested he could even be replaced following tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Mekies did not comment on those claims but did confirm the team will conduct one of its periodic assessments of its drivers after this weekend’s race.

“We’re doing drivers performance every so often,” Mekies told Sky. “It is something normal. We have also made it quite public.

“We did it after the first part of the season, we have done it before the shutdown. We made also quite public that we will sit down together after Singapore. That’s where we are, really, so nothing decided so far.”

Ricciardo was dropped by McLaren at the end of 2022, one year before his contract was due to expire, following a string of poor performances. He returned to F1 last year with Red Bull’s second team, then known as AlphaTauri, as a replacement for Nyck de Vries.

Over the 17 rounds so far this year Ricciardo has scored 12 points to Tsunoda’s 22. Tsunoda’s place at the team next year has been confirmed, and Ricciardo said earlier this week he expects to learn more about his future after this weekend.

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“That’s when decisions will be made,” he told the official F1 channel. “Obviously us that know the contracts, that’s kind of where the dates fall. So after the weekend we’ll know more.”

He admitted he “hoped for more obviously for myself” this year but said his performances have improved over the season.

“Around Montreal, when the pressure was definitely building and ramping up, I think since then it’s actually been certainly more positive than not,” said Ricciardo. “So that’s what I’ll keep trying to do and if it’s enough, it is. If not, then that’s obviously up to Red Bull.

“I’ve been here before in terms of there’s always been some speculation in the last few years and obviously I was in this position with McLaren and then I guess you build a little bit of probably a tolerance to it or a thick skin.

“But also I am not the only one. One week it’s me, the next week it’s another driver that’s fighting for their careers. So it’s also just how it goes, it’s the merry-go-round of the sport. But what I signed up for.”