Ricciardo to “leave it all out there” ahead of the summer break

Fuelled by his desire to bounce back from a nightmare outing last Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo is looking to end the opening half of the season on a high in Belgium, vying to impress the Red Bull higher-ups ahead of their critical decision-making over the summer break.

Ricciardo sounded like a broken record during last night’s Belgian Grand Prix press conference, pleading the case of a stable situation within the Red Bull family, even after a tumultuous weekend for his 2025 rivals. 

The #3 said, heading into the final race before the summer break, he will be taking a “selfish”, individually focused approach to the weekend. 

“[I’ll] just focus on myself and what I can do,” Ricciardo said.

“Every race or few races, the narrative changes and that’s the sport we’re in. 

“Things are happening quickly and you’ve just got to try and, I think in these situations, focus on yourself and get the most out of that and then see where the wind takes me. 

“No changes from the approach. 

“Coming into Budapest, I knew it was going to be two important weekends coming up before the break and obviously hit the break with a bit of momentum.

“So yeah, that’s where my head’s at.”

The Hungarian Grand Prix was a race to forget for the Australian who had his chance of a points finish pulled out from under him at the fault of RB’s poor strategic play.

Ricciardo, starting the 70-lap race on the medium compound tyre, was called in for his first pitstop on Lap 7, a decision which proved to be the catalyst of his downfall after making it into Q3 on the Saturday. 

Traffic, DRS trains and more ventures into the pitlane led to an unpleasant afternoon for the #3’s side of the garage, with Ricciardo forced to watch on as his teammate’s flawless strategy rewarded Yuki Tsunoda with two points at the chequered flag.

“For me, the race was frustrating on Sunday,” Ricciardo said. 

“For whatever reason, I chose silence to let that do the talking.

“And, okay, on the in-lap, then I said a bit more, but in a way I just couldn’t be bothered chatting about it through the race because for me, like what was done was done. 

“So any talk I had kind of felt a bit hopeless or helpless.”

On said in-lap, Ricciardo told his race engineer Pierre Hamelin he was “really trying to bite my tongue”, adding that the team would “know how I feel about the first stop” after the Australian had put such a heavy weighting on the final double-header before the summer break.

“I don’t want to say you’re as good as your last race, but there is, like, when it comes to these moments, these races are more critical than any other,” Ricciardo said, answering questions about his chances of reuniting with the top team in the near future.

“So as I said, coming into Budapest, and this wasn’t anything I’d heard from [Christian Horner and Helmet Marko], but even just myself, just telling myself, ‘look, these could be two very, very important races in my career and just leave it all out there and do everything I can’. 

“Because look, obviously going up, that’s, as I said last year, that’s like my goal. 

“I’d love to return, but you know, there’s also talks that will I even be here? So it’s like, there is so much to kind of fight for. 

“And yeah, I think for that, I just really made a point to every race you prepare, and of course, you do what you can. 

“But I just made a point for these two coming up that, yeah, leave it all out there.”

On his prospects around the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Ricciardo told fans not to get their hopes up, acknowledging RB’s place within “the midfield mystery”.

The Australian said “It’s always pretty unpredictable where we are”, however, after a “tough” Sunday in Budapest, he is “looking forward to Spa even more”.

“We showed a good turn of speed last week, so I’m confident we can continue that in Belgium and push for points on Sunday.”

On-track action at the Belgian Grand Prix will kick off tonight at 9:30 PM, with FP1 closely followed by FP2 at 1:00 AM, Saturday morning (AEST).

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

2024 Belgian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, July 26th:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, July 27th:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, July 28th:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race Start: 23:00

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