Daniel Ricciardo hoped this season would have gone much differently.
Before the season, the 34-year-old was talking a big game as he believed his Visa Cash App RB team was set to start challenging for the midfield.
While the RBs are up to sixth in the constructor’s championship — one point behind the team’s entire 2023 season tally where they finished eighth — it’s not for the reason the F1 world thought.
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Having been brought in halfway through last season, Ricciardo was believed to be the main driver in line to take over from Sergio Perez and join world champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
But after eight races, the pressure is on Ricciardo as he fights for his future not only at RB, but in Formula One.
Expected to have made short work of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, after eight races, the Japanese youngster holds a 7-1 lead in qualifying, a 6-1 record in races (both men had DNFs in China) and a 19-5 lead on the drivers championship table.
Not only that but Ricciardo has been seen as not a “real alternative” to Perez, as the Mexican appears set to re-sign for Red Bull.
Motorsport-Total.com reports the deal could be signed “within the next few days”.
And with the top team all but set, attention will turn the junior team with 22-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson waiting in the wings.
As the pressure mounts, it’s believed Ricciardo has the six races until the summer break to turn the conversation around as he fights for a contract for 2025.
While it still remains to be seen whether it’s a vote of confidence or a kiss of death, RB team boss Laurent Mekies said although Ricciardo’s results hadn’t been there, the experienced campaigner had much more to offer.
“It’s a huge luck for this team to have a pairing of Yuki and Daniel,” Mekies told PlanetF1.com.
“Daniel specifically, in the context of the projects, where the team needs to go and helping identify the gaps, it hugely helps to have somebody like Daniel that won eight races, has been at a few teams and knows where the board can be and where the board needs to go.
“So his input into the team has been massive. So even when the first couple of races say, the performance was in the uncomfortable zone, you were still bringing a massive amount of value to the team.
“We’ve been seeing very strong progress, some of that has been hidden to you guys.
“But in fact, the race in Australia was better than Saudi. Japan was better than Australia. You start seeing that China was better than Japan and Miami was better than China.
“So we think we are on a trajectory and to answer your question, he has been extremely non-emotional about it. He’s been completely rational, looking at it with us saying ‘this is what I can do, this is what I cannot do with the car. This is why I can’t do that in the corner. This is what I need to do in that corner.’
“And it’s been a learning as much for us and it was for him and we have stuff coming onto the car, short term, long term to try to (use that) learning from the requests he has made and that will eventually allow him to express himself at his best.”
With his future potentially hanging by a thread, Ricciardo knows he has to find more.
Having blown the F1 world away with a stunning fourth place in the sprint race in Miami, it remains the only points he’s been able to score in 2024.
“The gap (to Tsunoda), maybe we do find something that (explains) why I lost a bit here or there,” Ricciardo said.
“There’ll probably always be something – this is F1 and it’s never perfect.
“I’m not happy with having these gaps. I think that’s what’s frustrating me a bit. Obviously the team has been great and they’ve been really supportive and obviously they know I can do it.
“But it’s been a bit more of a struggle this year to do it week in, week out, and that’s really where my focus is now as opposed to getting too comfortable or excited about what the future holds.
“I want to be doing better, whether that’s the car or me.”
But even without making inroads to Tsunoda’s season lead, it’s not an open and shut case that Ricciardo will be forced out of the sport.
Recently Tsunoda revealed he would consider offers from rival F1 teams if he’s not promoted to partner Verstappen.
He’s already been linked with moves to both Aston Martin and Haas.
“Yeah, I mean, so far very happy with the VCARB,” Tsunoda said.
“I mean, now we’re fighting, like, almost … Yeah, sometimes like even P7 or P8.
“So I mean other options … and like probably now the top teams are pretty much taken so … I mean, probably we’re the strongest team in the midfield at least. We’ll see.
“I think, obviously, especially when I’m in Red Bull, you want to always aim for Red Bull.
“But if they don’t want me or they’re not expecting me into the seat, if I’ve got an interesting offer that could be better than even VCARB or Red Bull, I’ll think about it.
“But I also have a big loyalty to Red Bull as without them I wouldn’t be here. And obviously Honda as well.
“And speaking of Honda, maybe Aston Martin, but you know, Aston also, they’re taken by two drivers. So yeah, I mean, it’s pretty open, but so far I’m happy with VCARB.”
The Honda connection will play a big role in Tsunoda’s future in the sport as Red Bull move on from its successful partnership with the engine manufacturer at the end of next season.
Honda will move on to a deal with Aston Martin from 2026 and have previously said they’d like to continue to work with Honda Racing School graduate Tsunoda going forward.