Red Bull takes a call on Daniel Ricciardo's future at V-Ca-RB: Reports

Red Bull has taken a call on Daniel Ricciardo's future at RB and decided that it won't tinker with the driver lineups for now. Reported by Motorsport.com, the news comes a day after it was announced that Sergio Perez would continue to be a part of the senior Austrian team after the summer break as well.

Daniel Ricciardo's future under the Red Bull umbrella has been under speculation for some time now and one of the reasons behind it has been the fact that he hasn't performed at the level that he was expected to. The Australian was given an opportunity last season in the Pirelli tire test in Silverstone. By impressing everyone with the pace that he had, the driver earned the opportunity to drive for AlphaTauri in 2023 alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

The 2024 F1 season was supposed to be a showcase for Daniel Ricciardo, where he was pitted against Yuki Tsunoda, and if the driver had beaten his teammate convincingly, the seat at Red Bull would have been his. But the performances from the Australian have not been up to that mark.

As a result, there were even speculations that Red Bull could get rid of Daniel Ricciardo for Liam Lawson. As it turns out, for the race post-summer break, the Austrian squad has decided that there won't be any change in either the senior or the junior team. The report states:

"Daniel Ricciardo will remain at RB after Formula 1’s summer break, Motorsport.com has learned, with Red Bull electing against any driver changes for now."

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Daniel Ricciardo scoring a point in Spa helped his case

According to the aforementioned report, Daniel Ricciardo scoring a point at Spa helped his case as it was a further indication of the driver turning a corner with his form. The start of the season had been poor for the Australian as he had found it hard to keep up with Yuki Tsunoda. Since the chassis change in China, the performance comparison between Daniel and Yuki has been much more similar as well.

According to the report, the team felt that his recent form had shown that the driver was getting to grips with the car and hence was worth running in the second half as well.

"The Australian has had an up-and-down start to the 2024 season where, despite some flashes of speed, he has struggled to maintain consistently strong form. He had emerged as a candidate to be slotted in at Red Bull if Perez was dropped, but equally there was a chance that he could even be dropped with immediate effect and replaced with Liam Lawson if there were no signs of progress."

"However, with Ricciardo having appeared to turn a corner on his campaign and been promoted into the points in Belgium last week, it is understood that Red Bull was sufficiently satisfied with his performance to feel there was no need to make a change for now."

At the halfway mark of the season, Yuki has 22 points to his name while Daniel has 12.