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Marko makes firm Ricciardo stance

Ricciardo

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: June 27, 2024

The sight of Daniel Ricciardo racing in Formula 1 should not last much longer according to Red Bull Motorsport Adviser Helmut Marko.

Ricciardo is currently the only one of the four Red Bull backed drivers out of contract with Racing Bulls teammate Yuki Tsunoda and the under pressure Sergio Perez alongside locked in Max Verstappen both getting new deals recently.

It means the only question mark across the two teams is the Australian amid F1’s wild silly season.

This weekend Ricciardo will become the first ever Australian to notch up 250 Grand Prix starts at the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s home race.

But Marko believes the eight-time Grand Prix winner’s career should come to an end this season.

Instead he feels the time is right to promote promising Kiwi Liam Lawson.

Lawson stepped in for an injured Ricciardo across five races last year and made both Q3 and points in Singapore.

If the youngster does not get a Red Bull backed drive in 2025, it is believed he will be able to go his own way as a free agent.

“The shareholders have made it known that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung. 

“The goal was that he 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 That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.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 have to put a young driver in there soon (and) that would be Liam Lawson.”

Marko’s position comes from the scenario where Ricciardo replaced Nyck de Vries at Racing Bulls last year.

It was a lifeline for the Australian who had been Red Bull’s reserve after losing a full-time seat following a torrid two-year spell at McLaren.

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner was behind the move, hoping the “Honey Badger” could show off similar skills to his glory days from 2014-2018 and possibly replace Perez at the top team.

But Ricciardo has struggled to match younger teammate Tsunoda, who leads all the head to heads, qualifying 8-2, Grands Prix 5-3 and on points 19-9.

At 34 if Ricciardo is dropped by Racing Bulls it is unclear if he will be able to stay on the F1 grid, while Lawson could be chased by the likes of Audi.

Ricciardo’s historic 250th Grand Prix begins at 20.30 on Friday night.

Image: Peter Fox/Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Poo

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