Daniel Ricciardo sees his F1 future at RB but admits he needs better results to cement his place beyond 2024.
The Australian has been the subject of intense speculation since his shock return to the Red Bull family late last year.
That came with rumours that he could eventually displace Serio Perez. However, his lacklustre results with RB have turned talk of promotion into demotion.
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Waiting in the wings is an impatient Liam Lawson who is the most likely candidate to replace Ricciardo if Red Bull decides it no longer needs the Honey Badger.
Ricciardo’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda has consistently been the leading RB driver and has only been beaten twice in grands prix – at Bahrain and Canada – and once in a sprint in Miami.
Ricciardo’s best performance came at the most recent Canadian Grand Prix where the Perth pilot finished a season-best eighth while Tsunoda was only 14th. That remains his sole point-scoring effort in a grand prix this year. Tsunoda has five of those.
“Canada obviously helps,” said Ricciardo ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
“As I said, I needed a result like that. Obviously I would like to stay. So as I say, now that I’m back in that Red Bull family that’s where… I really don’t see myself anywhere else. So that’s where I’d love to stay and continue.
“I also said before the weekend in Canada that I obviously want to earn it. I don’t just want it to be like, ‘Yeah. Yeah. OK. Stay another year’. I obviously want to be here because I know that I still belong here and can do can do performances like I did last week.
“So it’s also up to me just to make sure that I can keep pulling it out. And in that case, then I’ll be very happy to stay.”
Ricciardo is optimistic that Canada will be a turning point for his side of the garage.
While Tsunoda has already had his contract with RB locking his services in for 2025, Ricciardo’s future at RB is unknown beyond 2024.
It’s not uncommon for teams to wait until the European summer break to decide their plans and there has been nothing to suggest a call will be made before then.
“The result always helps,” said Ricciardo.
“The feeling hasn’t been too far off. I think it’s just where I kind of crossed the line… where I crossed the finish line is what I’m trying to say, that always hasn’t been where I obviously want to be. But I don’t think it’s been far off.
“Obviously, Canada, we started from Friday practice, we were on the front foot and we continued that all through the weekend. We hadn’t had one of those weekends in a long time, or I hadn’t, so it was nice just to start good and end good.
“The team’s been great with updates, and I think the car has definitely made some steps forward. So I have confidence we can have more of those weekends in the next few and be there more consistently.
“So it was good for me, good for obviously the people who are pushing and know that I can do it. So yeah, personally as well, just to have a weekend like that, it was necessary, it was needed and it felt good for everyone.”
The Spanish Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 11pm.
Daniel Ricciardo vs Yuki Tsunoda in 2024
Qualifying
Tsunoda 7-2 Ricciardo
Best result: Tsunoda 7th, Ricciardo 5th
Q3 appearances: Tsunoda 7-2 Ricciardo
Sprint Qualifying
Tsunoda 2-0 Ricciardo
Sprint Race
Tsunoda 2-0 Ricciardo
Grands Prix
Tsunoda 6-2 Ricciardo*
Best finish: Tsunoda 7th, Ricciardo 8th
Retirements: Tsunoda 1-2 Ricciardo
Points to date
Tsunoda – 19
Ricciardo – 9
Nb: Neither Ricciardo nor Tsunoda finished the Chinese GP