Last Updated on March 16 2024, 11:32 am

The ongoing Formula One paddock narrative last season included persistent speculation over the future of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. Having won two of the first four races in 2023, Checo endured a horrendous time during the middle of the European season.

Over the races including the Singapore Grand Prix to the race weekend in his home country Mexico, the under pressure Red Bull driver scored a measly 18 points in five outings, while his team mates bandwagon rolled on to claim Verstappen’s third consecutive world championship.

 

 

 

Marko hails “team leader”

After bitter disappointment in Mexico, there was a consensus amongst a number of F1 observers that Sergio Perez would soon be history and replaced by Daniel Ricciardo who had been snapped up as Red Bull’s reserve driver by Christian Horner following his sacking a year early from McLaren.

Yet Perez rallied over the final two race weekends, coming home third under the bright lights of Las Vegas and scoring 12 points in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile his challenger for P2 was Lewis Hamilton, and the ex-workld champion could only manage a seventh and a ninth over the closing two rounds handing Perez second place and Red Bull their first ever drivers’ championship 1-2 finish.

Having replaced the unfortunate political football which was Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo set about proving his poor form at McLaren was a mere blip in his career. De Vries had been recruited against Horner’s wishes, but Dr. Helmut Marko believed the driver who scored points on his rookie debut for Williams, had the experience to “lead the team.”

“Yuki is young and doesn’t have this experience and background, so [Nyck] should lead the team,” Marko said ahead of the season opener. Yet the Dutch driver failed to do just this, though over ten races he matched his more experienced F1 Japanese team mate in impressive fashion. The problem was given Marko had fought for his seat ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, so De Vries needed to better Yuki, lead the team and the points scoring – as Helmut Marko claimed he would.

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Ricciardo blames V-CARB car

In came Ricciardo and out qualified and out raced his tea mate at the Hungarian Grand Prix but an accident in Zandvoort practice saw the Aussie break his metacarpal in his hand. He was then forced to sit out for five Grand Prix while he recovered and was more than ably deputised for by rookie New Zealander, Liam Lawson.

In the final five rounds of the season where both drivers finished the race, Ricciardo finished ahead of Tsunoda just twice. The likeable Aussie did score the AlphTauri team’s best points finish of the year with a P7 at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hopes that the winter break would see Daniel fully recovered and ready race Tsunoda have been dashed. Ricciardo has been out qualified by Yuki in both opening rounds this year although his P13 at the season opener is the best result to date for the newly named Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (V-CARB) team

Daniel complained after the race in Jeddah that they had found problems with the VCARB01 for which the fixes are known, fellow Aussie world champion of 1980 Alan Jones fears the situation is becoming increasingly precarious for the eight time Grand Prix winner.

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Alan Jones calls for ‘better results’

As Formula One heads down under, Jones suggests blaming the car is something Daniel has being doing for some while and is not a positive trend.

“I think [Ricciardo] would even agree with that,” Jones tells the Herald Sun, in regards to Ricciardo needing to improve. “Bad luck, or otherwise, I’m sure Daniel would like to have had better results than what he has had.

“At the end of the day, we can’t be blaming the car all the time, which has been a bit of a tendency in the past.”

Jones hopes Ricciardo will go well in his home race, but believes not will take more than that for him to be retained for next season.

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‘Best days are over’

“I would love to see Daniel go extremely well in Melbourne, I would like to see Daniel go extremely well period.

“But I just think that his luck is going to have to change or he is going to have to lift his game if he has got any chance of getting back in that Red Bull team or getting back into a more competitive car.”

The pressure will continue to build on Daniel was it did on Checo last year, but Jones is concerned his countryman’s glory days are finished.

“He is treading water. He really needs to have some very good results and put up a good show, he can’t be dwelling down where he is.

“I hate to say it, but I think we have seen the best days [from Ricciardo]. He has had his bum in a few decent cars, irrespective of what people say.”

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Ricciardo hoped to replace Perez

When driving for Red Bull, Ricciardo had the dubious honour of being Max Verstappen’s first F1 team mate where the Dutch driver was in a competitive car. The year Max was promoted, Daniel finished P3 in the drivers’ title race with the Red Bull portage some 52 points further back in P5.

In their first full season as team mates in 2017, the Aussie again finished ahead of Verstappen. This time the margin was reduced to 32 points, but Max season was littered with silly mistakes and DNF’s.

Come 2018, Max was set to crush his team mate which appeared to be the start of the decline of Daniel Ricciardo. He left for Renault where he beat team mate Nico Hulkenberg in his first season and then Esteban Ocon who replaced the German the following season.

His promotion to McLaren proved a disaster for Daniel, seeing him trail inexperienced team mate Lando Norris in both of the championships they raced together for the Papaya coloured team.

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Daniel must start beating his team mate

Jones now believes Ricciardo has to step up and do what ever F1 driver has as their first priority – beat their team mate.

“The Alpine or the McLaren, the car that he is in right now… at the end of the day he has got to start beating his team-mate for a start.

“I would love him to become super competitive and be up there challenging in the points, but I just think that maybe a couple of things have got to change before we see that.”

Red Bull are infamous for ditching or switching drivers mid season and should Ricciardo not heed the call of his elder statesman, he cold well find himself ditched from the V-CARB team as Helmut Marko’s preferred choice Liam Lawson is given his shot.

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Lawson to drive this season

When asked about the timing of Lawson’s reintroduction to Formula One, Dr. Marko revealed some interesting thinking going g on behind the scenes.

Speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF Marko confirmed Lawson would have a seat for 2025, but left us hanging stating: “and before that he should at least drive a few more races so that we can see where his potential really lies.”

Clearly this can only happen if Ricciardo or Tsunoda steps aside, and at present Daniel has not made the case that his experience should be retained over his Honda backed team mate.

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Horner accusers breaks silence, takes legal actio

In the fast-moving and competitive world of Formula 1, the Red Bull Racing team is embroiled in a controversy which goes beyond the race track. At the heart of the dispute is an employee’s complaint against team principal Christian Horner, a matter that has sparked widespread debate and disillusionment among observers and insiders alike.

Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull Racing, has found himself at the centre of a major investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with an employee. The internal investigation was launched after allegations were made by a team member, putting Horner under the microscope and casting a shadow over his leadership of one of Formula One’s most successful teams….. READ MORE