Daniel Ricciardo given Red Bull lifeline after surprise Sergio Perez call

Daniel Ricciardo will remain a VCARB driver after the F1 2024 summer break after the Red Bull junior team decided against making a change to their driver lineup, it has emerged.

It comes after it emerged on Monday that Sergio Perez will be retained as Max Verstappen’s team-mate despite a poor end to the first half of F1 2024.

Daniel Ricciardo to remain at VCARB as Red Bull keep Sergio Perez

Red Bull held a mid-season review at their Milton Keynes headquarters on Monday, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and adviser Helmut Marko among those in attendance.

High on the agenda included decisions on the futures of Perez and Ricciardo , who both struggled compared to their team-mates across the first half of the F1 2024 season.

Although Perez signed a new two-year contract as recently as last month, a clause believed to be in his revised deal had given Red Bull the power to drop the Mexican driver if he found himself in excess of 100 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen at the time of the summer break.

The gap ballooned to 146 at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, where Perez finished a distant seventh.

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However, it emerged on Monday that Perez will be retained by Red Bull for the second half of the season, which begins with the Dutch Grand Prix on August 25.

Ricciardo, who previously enjoyed a successful five-season stint with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, had been regarded as one of the leading contenders to replace Perez if Red Bull decided to make a change.

With Perez’s future resolved, though, Red Bull have also made a decision on Ricciardo with the 35-year-old also set to remain where he is after F1’s annual summer break.

It is unclear if the topic of both drivers’ futures will be revisited as the second half of the F1 2024 campaign unfolds, with Ricciardo still without a confirmed deal for next season.

Ricciardo’s retention comes after an improved run of form over recent weeks, with the Australian scoring points in three of the last six races heading into the summer shutdown – his most consistent run of results since returning to F1 with VCARB (then AlphaTauri) a year ago.

It remains to be seen how the decision on Ricciardo’s future will impact Liam Lawson, Red Bull’s highly rated reserve driver who has attracted interest from Audi, the German manufacturer who will take over the existing Sauber team in time for F1’s major regulation changes in 2026.

Lawson impressed in a five-race cameo while standing in for an injured Ricciardo in mid-2023, claiming the Red Bull junior team’s best result at that stage of the season with a ninth-place finish in Singapore.

However, the New Zealander was unable to force his way into VCARB’s plans for F1 2024 with the team deciding to retain Ricciardo alongside Yuki Tsuonda.

Rumours had intensified over recent weeks that Lawson, who completed a test behind the wheel of Red Bull’s RB20 car at Silverstone following the British Grand Prix, would be handed a mid-2024 promotion, with Marko revealing Red Bull’s shareholders are keen to see VCARB return to their Toro Rosso roots as a team to train young drivers.

Red Bull and VCARB’s latest decision on Ricciardo, however, could force Lawson to seriously consider opportunities elsewhere.

Marko revealed earlier this year that a clause contained in the 22-year-old’s contract will allow him to leave Red Bull entirely if he is not promoted to a permanent seat for the F1 2025 season.

PlanetF1.com understands that Red Bull’s option to promote Lawson expires in September.

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