Daniel Ricciardo’s ‘biggest frustration’ at Red Bull amid intensifying future speculation

Daniel Ricciardo admits his current struggles to string together consistent strong performances is his “biggest frustration”,  knowing he is “laughing” if he could amid intensifying Red Bull speculation.

Heading into the F1 2024 campaign, Ricciardo – racing with Red Bull’s junior team VCARB – was seen as the top challenger to Sergio Perez’s seat at Red Bull, but Ricciardo’s struggles this season put that plan on hold…perhaps.

Daniel Ricciardo opens up on inconsistency frustration

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper and Thomas Maher

Losing out to VCARB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in both the race and qualifying F1 2024 head-to-heads so far, Ricciardo is the driver whose position is not yet decided for F1 2025. But, while speculation initially revolved around Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson replacing Ricciardo, now Ricciardo to Red Bull talk has returned.

A P4 in the Miami Sprint, as well as P8 and P9 finishes in the Canadian and Austrian GPs respectively more recently, demonstrated the strong showings which Ricciardo remains capable of, with Perez’s alarming dip in form since signing a new Red Bull deal reigniting speculation that Ricciardo could take his place.

PlanetF1.com understands that performance clauses exist for both drivers which would allow for such a swap, with Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko having said that a decision will be made on Red Bull’s driver plans over the summer break.

But, with Ricciardo losing out to Tsunoda over one lap and in the race last time out at Silverstone, it highlighted the inconsistency which the eight-time race winner knows is holding him back.

“[It’s] my biggest frustration,” Ricciardo admitted to the Formula 1 website .

“It’s a frustration because I look at myself in the mirror and say I can do this very, very well so how do I make sure I do it consistently? Because if I do, I’m laughing. But it’s more positive than negative.

“There will be a day when I won’t be able to do it as good, but I’d much rather have these sporadic good days that it shows I’ve still got those capabilities to do something great – and then it’s up to me to unlock it more often.”

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Ricciardo revealed that it was after the Monaco Grand Prix where he put thought to how he could change his approach, which included ramping up his time spent with performance coach Pyry Salmela.

“A few things have [changed],” said Ricciardo on his recent improvement.

“It was after Monaco, I was scratching my head a little bit. I felt like I was at the race weekend, I was ready to go but the results weren’t really coming. With the help of my team and people around me, I tried to address and see how I can change some other things.

“‘Okay, maybe race weekends are okay, but what about the week leading up to the race? Could you be doing something better to prepare, and to feel more ready to go racing? If you feel ready, maybe you’re not 100 per cent.’

“For example, one [thing I’ve changed] – when I got back in last year, I decided to do things on my own for a bit, do my training. I felt I had been doing it long enough and felt I knew what I need. It worked for me a little bit.

“But now I’ve started more full-time working with Pyry. He’s always been at track with me since I got back, but I’m utilising his expertise a bit more.

“Ultimately, it’s just remaining open-minded. Even if six months ago something worked great, it doesn’t mean it will now. So I’m just trying to search everywhere, where I can find a few per cent here, a few per cent there.”

Because after all, Ricciardo is well aware that in Formula 1, “the stopwatch doesn’t lie”.

“Yes, I believe so,” said Ricciardo when asked if his F1 future will be decided by what the stopwatch says? “And that’s what I’m telling myself. I don’t see any other reasons.

“The sport is so competitive now. Yes, there’s marketing and other things involved in this sport/business. But at the end of the day, the stopwatch doesn’t lie – and that’s my best way to keep doing this for longer.”

Ricciardo was pressed directly on the Perez swap speculation when speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at Silverstone, and while he stayed clear of any predictions, he teased “crazy things happen”.

“I would never make any predictions in this sport,” he said. “I feel like every year that this sport goes on, the more it gets.

“I know it goes in the trend of the sport is getting bigger. It’s becoming more Hollywood, so to speak, in terms of the profile the sport has and also the narrative that runs with the sport now and certainly more Hollywood in terms of it’s so unpredictable.

“So do I have any proof that I’ll be anywhere else? I do not. Crazy things happen but I am certainly not in a place to say that or think that or predict that, so try and keep doing my thing.”

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