Daniel Ricciardo’s desire for a fairytale end at Red Bull is slowly becoming a nightmare. After his surprise return to AlphaTauri (now RB) in 2023, he was in pole position for a promotion to Red Bull. However, his 2024 performances are slowly putting him out of that equation. The Australian has failed to beat his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who has out-qualified him at all of the four race weekends so far. Except for the team-orders swap in Bahrain, Tsunoda has finished ahead of Ricciardo in all the races as well. Seeing this, Christian Horner finally broke his silence and discussed his outlook toward the Honey Badger, who is one of his favorite drivers.
The 34-year-old is yet to score points this year while Tsunoda has already scored 7. The Japanese driver has scored points in back-to-back races in Melbourne and Suzuka, piling more pressure on the Australian. Tsunoda knocked Daniel Ricciardo out of what would’ve been his first Q3 appearance of the season in Japan. The disappointed radio conversation after the qualifying result highlighted his growing frustrations.
On top of this, a first-lap collision and DNF did not help his case either. It would have surely pushed his plummeting morale further down. According to reports, Ricciardo also had a two-race timeframe to secure his position in the RB team. So, the do-or-die pressure in China will not help the Honey Badger. However, discussing his performance and future, Horner put some faith in Ricciardo’s abilities.
“Daniel (Ricciardo) needs a solid result and then we will see his big smile again. (Yuki) Tsunoda is performing very well and that clearly increases the pressure on Ricciardo. But Daniel is a big boy, he knows how this industry works. I’m not worried about him,” said the Red Bull boss, as quoted by F1 Maximaal.
There is obvious pressure on Daniel Ricciardo from the younger drivers, all waiting for an opportunity to prove themselves. However, Horner has faith in Ricciardo and believes he will bounce back. Before the situation spirals out of control, the Aussie is making a last-gasp attempt to turn his season around.
Daniel Ricciardo requests a chassis change ahead of the Chinese GP
It is no secret that Ricciardo is facing a difficult time in the circus at the moment. Even the Australian is in agreement with his current demoralizing output. There could be many factors hampering his on-track performances. However, Ricciardo thinks that a faulty chassis could be an aspect holding him back.
A faulty chassis could explain the Australian’s struggles, contrasting to some of his decent performances in 2023. A chassis change can help in turning his season around. So, heading to the Chinese GP, the RB team will look to change the Australian’s chassis.
Luckily, the Faenza-based outfit was already planning to replace Ricciardo’s VCARB01 chassis in Shanghai, as revealed by the sporting director Alan Permane. However, according to Permane, the chassis change won’t make any difference in actual performance.
Rather, he believes that the chassis will give Ricciardo some much-needed peace of mind. It will help him tick off one of the things he believes is holding him back. However, if the 34-year-old cannot return to form in China and upcoming races, that could pose a serious threat to his F1 future as a whole.
