According to Daniel Ricciardo, he hasn’t received any word about his impending departure from the Red Bull-owned running back squad for the upcoming campaign. The 22-year-old Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has to be promoted to a drivers seat soon, according to senior Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, raising concerns over Ricciardo’s future after the Australian driver had a lackluster Formula One season in 2024.

Marko told the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zuitung, “The shareholders have made it known that [RB] is a junior team and we have to act accordingly.” “The intention was for [Ricciardo’s] outstanding achievements to be taken into consideration for Red Bull Racing… That plan is out of the question because Sergio Pérez currently has that seat. We need to soon add a young driver to that. Liam Lawson is that person.

Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo’s teammate at RB, has frequently defeated the Australian driver, who has Ricciardo’s contract expiring at the end of the year. Tsunoda has finished ahead of Ricciardo in five of the eight races this season. Furthermore, Lawson’s arrival on the RB team might have happened sooner than expected because of his connections to other teams.

Since RB has already stated that Tsunoda will stay with the team for the upcoming season, Lawson is well-positioned to attempt to take Ricciardo’s spot in 2025. Even though Ricciardo defeated Tsunoda in Spain, his F1 career with Red Bull’s sister team might not be saved. In his 17 games with RB, Ricciardo has just twice finished in the points, but the Australian claims he hasn’t heard anything about Red Bull executives considering firing him.

Daniel Ricciardo answers Helmut Marko’s remarks

At Thursday’s Austrian Grand Prix, the seasoned driver revealed to reporters that he was unaware of Marko’s remarks until he arrived at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring. “I have no strong feelings about it. “I remain aware that performance is the most important factor in this sport,” Ricciardo remarked.

The 34-year-old acknowledged that the business is results-driven but disputed that he had received a directive from Red Bull executives to either improve or risk being fired. I have the best chance of remaining here if I do that. I am aware of that. It’s going to be the things that are on track, not my smile or anything else. Nothing along the lines of an ultimatum or pressure has occurred,” he continued.

But I’ve also played the sport for a very long time. I understand that if I’m getting kicked in the ass every weekend, eventually someone will say something like, “Hey buddy, if you don’t step it up, you’ll lose.” But I haven’t experienced that. Tsunoda has been confirmed as one of the two primary drivers for RB in 2025, thus Ricciardo has three races left before the August break to establish himself and show people just how good he is.

Eight Grand Prix races have been won by Ricciardo; seven of those came between 2014 and 2018 while he was employed by Red Bull. But in the ten races this season so far, Tsunoda has routinely outperformed and eclipsed the Australian. After two challenging seasons with McLaren, Ricciardo left the team at the conclusion of 2022, and he had a successful comeback season at RB last year. A victory at Monza in 2021 was a rare bright point during a run of unsatisfactory performances.