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Will Ricciardo lose his place in F1? 'You can't see Verstappen doing that'
Daniel Ricciardo is keen to return to Red Bull Racing, but performances at Visa Cash App RB are not yet anything to write home about. In the podcast Formula For Success, Eddie Jordan discusses the difficult situation for the Australian driver.
After being shown the door at McLaren, Ricciardo initially returned as Red Bull Racing's third driver in 2023. Halfway through the year, he impressed enough to take over Nyck de Vries' seat at AlphaTauri. In the races that followed, and especially those in 2024, Ricciardo has yet to show he can return to his old level.
Is the end of Ricciardo near?
"I don't think there is a more loved personality in Formula One. Certainly got the best smile that I've ever seen in Formula One. He's a magic guy to have in the team. But, that doesn't give you the right to be the driver in the team. And I'm just worried that the end of the end of McLaren era was really something that stood out. And I couldn't see where he'd lost it. And there's been nothing since then that convinces me that I would want to invest my hard-earned sponsorship cash to keep Daniel. So he needs a result more than anyone, perhaps. And he needs to get it together because otherwise he is going to be replaced," said the former team owner.
"And he can understand why he would be replaced because the performance is not just there. I mean, he shouldn't be spinning the car. He shouldn't be getting himself into outer sequence in a pit stop. That's all part… You don't see Max doing that. You don't see other people doing it. So, Daniel, as much as we absolutely adore him and I think he's a huge asset for Formula One. The stopwatch, you always say, David never lies. And the stopwatch in terms of Daniel, the question marks are out there. And people, when we see people like Oliver Bearman coming like the way he did, people like Daniel Ricciardo will have to look over his shoulders and say, how much time have I left here?"
Ricciardo lost the qualifying duel to his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In Bahrain, Ricciardo still finished ahead of his teammate, but he owed that mainly to a team order. In Jeddah, the Japanese finished ahead of Ricciardo, although both drivers are still without points.