Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has hit back at the rumours that he could be booted from his seat with Visa Cash App RB and replaced by young gun Liam Lawson.
The whispers kicked off on Thursday when Red Bull’s chief adviser Helmut Marko stated that the Visa Cash App RB team wants Lawson to take over Ricciardo’s seat.
“The shareholders have made it clear that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” Marko told Austrian publication Kleine Zeitung.
“The goal was that [Ricciardo] would be considered for Red Bull Racing with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is no longer valid. We will have to put a young driver in there soon. That would be Liam Lawson.”
Then, things really began to heat up when respected F1 journalist Joel Saward reported that the switcheroo could happen as quickly as July. When asked on X — formerly known as Twitter — about whether this signified the end of Ricciardo’s career, Saward responded: “I’d guess so.”
While that sounds bad for fans of the Aussie zoom-zoom enthusiast with a cracking smile, Ricciardo doesn’t feel stressed by Marko’s comments.
“I don’t feel one way or another about it,” he said, per news.com.au.
“I still know the overriding thing in this sport is performance. That’s what will give me my best chance of staying here. I know that. It’s not going to be my smile or anything else. It’s the on-track stuff.”
Despite reports, the 34-year-old says that the team haven’t given him a warning, or made any comments regarding a replacement.
“There hasn’t been any pressure, any ultimatum — nothing like that,” he said.
“But also I’ve been in the sport a long time. I know that, if I’m getting my ass kicked every weekend, at some point someone will be like, ‘Hey mate, step it up, otherwise …’ but I haven’t had that.”
Despite his optimism, it has been a bit of a rough period for Ricciardo. The 8-time Grand Prix winner is currently sitting 14th in the Driver’s Championship with only five points locked in from the first ten races. Considering there are a total of 20 drivers zooming around in the F1, this is not good.
Most likely due to his lacklustre results, Ricciardo was recently passed over to secure a spot with Visa Cash App RB’s big dog team Red Bull going with Sergio Perez to sit alongside the current World Champion Max Verstappen. Because Visa Cash App RB has already confirmed that Ricciardo’s current teammate Yuki Tsunoda will keep his seat for 2025, it doesn’t look like Ricciardo will keep his seat with his current team for 2025.
And, to make matters more nerve-racking, is that most other open spots on the grid seem to be taken unless he can wrangle a seat at Haas.
Fingers crossed that the man with the best smile in the paddock will remain for another year yet.
