Daniel Ricciardo ‘twist’ teased despite Sergio Perez F1 retirement denial

An F1 paddock regular has teased that there still “might be a twist” in the saga surrounding Daniel Ricciardo’s future, with the door “not 100 per cent closed” on the former Red Bull driver.

It comes despite current Red Bull racer Sergio Perez laughing off rumours on Sunday that he intends to announce his retirement from F1 at his home race, the Mexican Grand Prix, next month.

Daniel Ricciardo ‘twist’ still possible despite Sergio Perez retirement denial

Ricciardo was dropped by the VCARB junior team last week, with Liam Lawson stepping up to partner Yuki Tsunoda for the final six races of the F1 2024 season.

The announcement came after Ricciardo appeared to bow out of F1 at the Singapore Grand Prix, where the Australian was treated to a guard of honour after the race as speculation surrounding his future intensified.

VCARB’s decision to drop Ricciardo came despite the 35-year-old being briefly linked to a return to Red Bull’s senior team in July as Perez’s seat came under serious threat.

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Despite signing a two-year contract extension as recently as June, PlanetF1.com understands that a performance clause in Perez’s revised deal gave Red Bull the power to replace him during the summer break as he was in excess of 100 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings.

Perez is understood to have come exceptionally close to losing his seat following the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa before the decision was taken to keep both him and Ricciardo in place entering the second half of the season.

Red Bull’s driver situation is expected to be reassessed at the end of the year ahead of what is expected to be a highly competitive F1 2025 campaign.

With Perez’s new deal thought to contain stricter performance-related clauses, it is unclear whether Red Bull would again have the freedom to drop the 34-year-old at the end of this season, with his deficit to Verstappen currently standing at 187 points.

Despite announcing that Lawson would race for VCARB for the rest of this year, the Faenza-based outfit tellingly stopped short of confirming the New Zealander for next season – fuelling suggestions that Lawson, 22, could yet emerge as a serious alternative to Perez at Red Bull for F1 2025.

Joe Saward, the experienced F1 reporter, claimed last week that rumours over the Singapore GP weekend indicated that Perez and Red Bull had “worked out a plan” to announce his retirement over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend in late October.

It was said that this arrangement would have given the 34-year-old a chance to walk away from F1 on his own terms rather than being dropped by Red Bull.

Saward added that McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has attracted Red Bull’s interest, though the Australian driver is known to be under contract at his current team until the end of the F1 2026 season.

Perez responded to the rumours on Sunday by posting a clip to social media from the film The Wolf of Wall Street , in which the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio announces: “I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving. I’m not f*****g leaving!”

“Sorry,” Perez wrote in the accompanying caption alongside a series of laughter emojis.

Ricciardo enjoyed the most successful spell of his F1 career at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, collecting all but one of his eight grand prix victories, before rejoining the team in a reserve role at the beginning of 2023 after stints with Renault (now Alpine) and McLaren.

The Perth-born star made no secret of his desire to reclaim his former race seat following his mid-2023 comeback with VCARB (then AlphaTauri), describing a return to Red Bull Racing as a “fairytale ending” as recently as last weekend in Singapore.

And Kym Illman, the leading F1 photographer, has hinted at fresh hope for Ricciardo, teasing that a surprise development could arrive within “weeks.”

Asked if Ricciardo could still find a way back into an F1 seat, he told Australian television show The Project : “There might be a twist.

“I’ve just got some information late last night and all I’ll say is there might be a twist.

“It’s a long shot, but there could be a twist. I’m not 100 per cent sure that the door is closed.

“There could be a twist. We’ll know in weeks.”

Illman went on to express frustration with Red Bull’s handling of Ricciardo during the Singapore GP weekend, describing it as a “very bizarre situation” as the veteran was left to field questions over his future, with the announcement that he would be dropped coming four days after the race.

He said: “I can only think there’s something else going on that stopped them alerting us [to the situation].

“Daniel looked very much out of sorts because he couldn’t say he was going and, without a doubt, he knew he was going.

“Liam Lawson knew he was coming, but neither of them could say anything, so it left them in a rather awkward position.

“I don’t think Red Bull’s come out of it looking too good.

“He was always smiling. Even on a bad day, he could muster up a smile.

“He rode a horse in Austin [in 2022], which was an amazing stunt and he looked great on it. The shoeys, of course, I don’t think anyone will ever do that again.

“He really seemed to invoke love from just about everybody in the paddock and that’s rare, because a lot of the drivers are just focused on themselves.

“I thought Daniel was a cut above the rest.”

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