Organizers of the F1 Miami Grand Prix were probably overjoyed when Daniel Ricciardo returned to the grid midway through the 2023 season. Despite missing the 2023 Miami race, one of the sport’s most popular drivers is scheduled to return to Miami for the 2024 event.
That return now appears in doubt.
According to one report, Dr. Helmut MarkoRed Bull’s senior advisor and head of driver development gave Ricciardo an ultimatum: “Improve or else.” In Alex Powell NZ Herald write According to his report, either Ricciardo will improve in the next two races, the Japanese Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix, or changes will come to the VisaCash RB F1 Team.
And in a move similar to what happened last season when Ricciardo was injured shortly after returning to the grid, Liam Lawson will slide into his place.
Ricciardo failed to qualify in each of this weekend’s three races to teammate Hiroki Tsunoda, and it was Tsunoda who opened his VCARB account at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, where he crossed the finish line in eighth place. After Fernando Alonso was given a post-race penalty, Tsunoda was promoted to seventh place, earning the team a massive six points.
Ricciardo has not yet reached the points range this season and has not even made it to Q3 in qualifying. Ricciardo failed to qualify for Q2 in Melbourne on Saturday, marking the first time in his F1 career that an Australian driver has failed to qualify for Q2 at his home race.
After Ricciardo’s injury a season ago, Lawson slipped into the seat and put in a superb performance, securing a ninth place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix. He is currently Red Bull’s reserve driver. According to Powell’s report, Lawson is not only being considered to replace Ricciardo midway through the season, but is also seen as the team’s best option alongside Max Verstappen to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull.
Perez’s contract is expected to expire at the end of the 2024 season.
After the Australian Grand Prix, Marco wasn’t shy about speaking his mind and praised Tsunoda while pointing out that Ricciardo was “struggling”.talk to sky sports germany, Marco declared Tsunoda enjoyed a “perfect” weekend in Melbourne. “Yuki ran perfectly from the first lap on Friday and set very consistent and good times in today’s race. [Haas driver Nico] When Hulkenberg attacked, he immediately counterattacked.” Said Marco. “I think we have confirmed that Yuuki is a fully mature driver.”
Then he turned his thoughts to Ricardo.
“He’s struggling, we’ll have to wait and see. There were some good signs in the Bahrain test, but the last few races haven’t gone very well.” Added Marco. “I think Ricciardo needs a safe and confident car. I hope the team can give it to him and he can at least be on par with Yuuki.”
The reports about Marko and Ricciardo sound eerily similar to those about the Red Bull senior and Nyk de Vries a season ago. Around this time in 2023, Marko gave De Vries a “yellow card” and pointed out that he needed to improve his form.
If there was no improvement, the team turned to Ricciardo.
Whether he meets the same fate appears to be in his hands over the next two races.
