After a disastrous two-year stint with McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo mutually parted ways with the team prematurely. The plan was to take a year off from Formula 1 to rediscover his love for racing. Just a few months into that sabbatical, the Honey Badger got a hope to revive his career as Red Bull came calling.
That call, however, was to replace an under-firing Nyck de Vries mid-season at AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB). Knowing fully well the role of the team as a launch pad for future Red Bull drivers, the Aussie driver grabbed the opportunity.
Ricciardo confessed it would be a ‘fairytale’ end to his F1 career to finish with Red Bull. Apparently, that was also the plan the Red Bull management hatched for the Honey Badger.
Unfortunately, Ricciardo has failed to make a case for himself for the coveted Red Bull seat, as per Helmut Marko. The Austrian, as per Motorsport, recently said, “This is a junior team. The plan with Ricciardo was for him to regain his old form and possibly make a comeback at Red Bull. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened so far.”
Is Daniel Ricciardo’s future in #F1 coming to an end unless his performance significantly improves? pic.twitter.com/Q963etm38q
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) June 28, 2024
Marko’s comment comes in the midst of the raging debate over Ricciardo’s future in F1. That discussion is incomplete without the mention of Liam Lawson, who is a prime candidate to replace him. The New Zealander was mighty impressive in his five-race stint in 2023 as a replacement for an ailing Ricciardo.
However, the Red Bull management decided to keep the Honey Badger in the seat for another year, a move that frustrated Lawson. Despite that, the 22-year-old decided to stay with the team as a reserve driver for 2024. If Marko’s words hold any weight, Lawson might fancy his chances of landing Ricciardo’s seat in 2025.
Christian Horner continues to protect Daniel Ricciardo
The internal power struggle at Red Bull is no secret to the outside world. Reportedly, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko find themselves on the opposite ends of that spectrum.
Amid many bones of contention in that tussle is Daniel Ricciardo, who reportedly has Horner’s backing. That assumption finds legitimacy in the Red Bull boss’ recent comments which leaves Ricciardo some slack to recoup his remaining season.
Planet F1 quoted Horner as saying, “They’re all Red Bull Racing drivers and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny but Daniel is in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that and then it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”
Marko, meanwhile, is keen on taking VCARB on the old path where it acted as the team that trained junior drivers for Red Bull. For that, he claims that he has the backing of the shareholders. Horner, on the other hand, is understood to have Chalerm Yoovidhya’s backing who owns more than half of Red Bull GmbH’s shares.
