Admission made about Ricciardo: 'Maybe went too far in terms of pressure'

Red Bull Racing has highlighted throughout the 2024 Formula 1 season that their drivers from both Red Bull and VCARB are under constant evaluation. Both Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo have felt the pressure from that message. It seems that Ricciardo might be the victim as there is the possibility that the Singapore Grand Prix was his last F1 race. Team boss Laurent Mekies admits that Red Bull may have spoken too openly about the drivers' future.

VCARB: 'Maybe been too open about Ricciardo's future'

"There is nothing wrong with reviewing your drivers’ performance every few races, and I think we have perhaps been too public about it," Mekies admitted in a conversation with SiriusXM. "We have done it in the first part of the season, we have done it quite famously just before the summer break. I guess at some stage we have said we will see after Singapore as well to discuss!"

"So it’s part of the game," assures the Visa Cash App RB team boss. "Certainly sometimes you can see it’s probably going a bit too far in terms of pressure, above all for Daniel in that case. He has had a lot of that this season. Some races it’s been quiet, some races it’s been very difficult, this is for sure one of the very difficult races. Of course, these guys are high level athletes and they know how to deal with it, but sometimes it’s a bit unnecessary."

Speculation surrounding Ricciardo's future in Singapore was more extensive than ever and everything pointed to it being the Australian's last F1 race, but Red Bull team boss Christian Horner clarified after the race that no decision had yet been made on the driver's fate. He did say, however, that Ricciardo is "just one piece of the jigsaw".

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton