The 2024 F1 season has not gone to plan so far for Visa Cash App RB (V-CARB) driver Daniel Ricciardo. The #3 driver was given a second lease of life to his F1 career by Red Bull mid-season last year. However, he has failed to really impress or outshine his teammate Yuki Tsunoda so far.
Ricciardo has failed to outscore Tsunoda in the opening eight rounds of the championship. While the Honey Badger languishes with just five points to his name this season, the young Japanese driver has broken into the top 10 of the driver’s standings with 19 points to his name so far.
When asked about his future in the sport, Ricciardo explained he had other priorities. Formule1.nl quoted him as saying, “I’m just dissatisfied with the differences [with Tsunoda ] and that’s starting to bother me a bit. They [V-CARB] know I can do it. It just turns out to be difficult to perform every week this year. That’s what I want to focus on now.”
Terwijl ze bij Visa RB toegeven ‘blij’ te zijn met de huidige coureurs, wil Daniel Ricciardo nog niet nadenken over de toekomst. De Australiër is niet tevreden over zijn prestaties en legt zich liever toe op het dichten van het gat naar zijn teamgenoot #F1 https://t.co/Rbb8JD33CD
— Formule1.nl (@Formule1) June 5, 2024
The #3 driver has been struggling for form ever since his move to McLaren. The Woking-based team sacked Ricciardo at the end of the 2022 season. But mid-way through the 2023 season, Red Bull sacked Nyck de Vries and drafted the Australian into their sister team.
The move was dubbed as an audition for the Honey Badger. This is because since Sergio Perez suffered a drastic mid-season drop in form last year, Ricciardo was being assessed as a potential replacement for the #11 driver.
Have Red Bull shut the doors on Daniel Ricciardo with Sergio Perez’s extension?
For all intents and purposes, Ricciardo’s stint with V-CARB was for the limited purpose of seeing whether he deserved that second Red Bull seat. However, the Milton-Keynes-based team recently announced that they had decided to re-sign Perez on a two-year deal.
This has all but erased a long-term future for Ricciardo with Red Bull. Naturally, questions have been raised about his future in the sport altogether. With no real options for the Australian elsewhere on the grid, and the likes of Liam Lawson waiting in the wings for a full-time seat next year, the 34-year-old could be dropped by Red Bull and V-CARB.
