‘Race by race deal’ for Daniel Ricciardo theory emerges after latest Red Bull exit

Daniel Ricciardo ‘very lucky’ to get second Red Bull F1 chance

The announcement came after Ricciardo bid F1 farewell at the Singapore Grand Prix, where he competed amid mounting speculation surrounding his future and was treated to a guard of honour after the race.

Ricciardo enjoyed the most successful period of his F1 career with Red Bull’s senior team between 2014 and 2018, claiming all but one of his eight career victories, before spells with Renault and McLaren.

The Australian returned to Red Bull as the team’s reserve driver at the end of 2022 after being dropped by McLaren, before embarking upon a comeback with VCARB (then AlphaTauri) in July 2023.

Despite openly targeting a return to the senior team, Ricciardo largely disappointed upon his return, scoring points just four times in 26 appearances.

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Appearing on the Sky F1 podcast, former BAR-Honda and Super Aguri driver Davidson admitted Ricciardo’s exit came as no surprise after the sheer amount of speculation in Singapore.

And he claimed Ricciardo could have been dropped even sooner, with his position at VCARB shaky ever since his mid-2023 comeback.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed earlier this week that adviser Helmut Marko was keen to drop Ricciardo around the time of the Spanish Grand Prix in June, a weekend the driver competed with a handwritten note – ‘NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT’ – on the rear of his helmet.

He said: “I wasn’t surprised to see the news break and for it to become official, because it wasn’t like we were just second guessing out there in Singapore.

“Even before that race, people do talk behind closed doors and it’s our responsibility as pundits, as journalists, to respect the privacy of drivers, of athletes, of team bosses.

“So it’s not like we were taking wild guesses to come up with this hypothesis.

“We did actually know, but you’re sworn to secrecy sometimes in the paddock and just because you don’t say it’s official doesn’t mean that it’s a guess.

“So it was way more than just an educated guess, definitely and not surprised to see the news break at all.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if it happened any earlier, either, for that matter, not that was spoken about in the paddock.

“It was just the feeling you had with Daniel his during his second time at Red Bull, albeit with the junior team.

“It almost seemed like he was on a race-by-race deal in many ways.

“If you’re not performing, then your chance of moving up to the A team diminishes, even to the point where we have to replace you with one of our younger drivers in our roster.

“It’s just the way that Red Bull has always operated, so I’m not really surprised that it’s come to this and I think Daniel can walk away now knowing that he gave it his all.

“He did have that second chance – so many drivers don’t get that opportunity – and I think he can walk away with no hard feelings now and also know that he did the best that he could and was very lucky to be given that second opportunity.”

Davidson’s fellow pundit, the presenter Rachel Brookes, expressed her frustration that Ricciardo had been denied a fitting farewell in Singapore as he was left to field questions about his future with no official announcement made by Red Bull.

She said: “I want to caveat everything by saying I think Liam Lawson was super, super impressive last year, So him getting the chance, I think, is right.

“However, to see everyone talking about him as though his career was over and he was leaving, without it being officially announced, just left a bit of a bad taste, to be honest, because it just didn’t feel like he got the send off he deserved.

“And I know this is the way Red Bull do things – [Pierre] Gasly [Alex] Albon, Nyck de Vries, none of them knew it was their last race and didn’t get a send off for their last race, even if they knew – so I know that’s how they do things.

“But everyone’s talking about him leaving, but no one’s actually saying it? It just didn’t feel very nice.

“It didn’t feel the right way to treat somebody and especially somebody who’s done what he has in the sport.

“I think there’s a stat that only five per cent of drivers have achieved as much as him in the sport, from all the drivers that have raced, so it just didn’t feel like the right send off to me, the way it was done.

“Christian Horner says Helmut Marco wanted Daniel out from Spain, so he was racing under that kind of pressure from Spain onwards, trying to prove himself.

“It’s a ruthless sport, but wow.

“It just didn’t feel very nice. It didn’t feel like the way we want to treat people in our sport.”

PlanetF1.com revealed last week that Ricciardo has been offered the chance to maintain ties with Red Bull via an ambassador-style role, with Horner confirming the team have made their intentions “very clear” to keep him on board in some capacity.

Marko added that Red Bull are hoping to exploit Ricciardo’s popularity, particularly in the United States, but revealed that he expects the Australian to retire from racing for good now he has left F1.

Asked if Ricciardo could compete in a different category of motorsport, he said: “I don’t think so.

“And if he no longer drives actively, does he even want these PR activities?”

Ricciardo has exited F1 with an overall record of eight grand prix victories, 32 podiums, three pole positions and 17 fastest laps from 257 starts.