Speculation Swirls in Baku: Ricciardo’s F1 Future at Red Bull in Jeopardy as Decision Deadline Looms

Speculation intensifies in Baku regarding the potential end of Daniel Ricciardo's Formula 1 career

Red Bull faces an imminent deadline to make a critical decision about their driver lineup

In Baku, there were further indications that Daniel Ricciardo might not have his F1 seat in 2025.

Just two open spots are left to fill before the 2025 F1 driver roster is finalized.

The only remaining decisions to be made are regarding Ricciardo's position at Red Bull and one of the seats at Sauber.

During the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Ricciardo faced yet another setback, rumors began circulating that Red Bull is preparing to bring in a new driver for their affiliate team next season.

"It was a tremendously disappointing day for the team, truly a dreadful one," commented Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports following the race.

“Ricciardo was obviously enthusiastic on the starting grid, despite being in 13th position.”

"Ricciardo competed against Pierre Gasly but was unable to overtake him, even after Gasly made his required tire change on the final lap. Despite Gasly making his pit stop during the Virtual Safety Car period, they were still 29 seconds behind. It just wasn't their day."

According to Helmut Marko, the announcement of Yuki Tsunoda's teammate at RB for the upcoming year will be made after the Singapore event.

"Marko is hinting that the decision between Ricciardo and Lawson will be revealed after the Singapore event."

"It appears that Liam Lawson will be the chosen one."

Last season, Lawson filled in for Ricciardo during his injury and delivered an impressive performance while driving for AlphaTauri.

However, Ricciardo was still allowed by Red Bull to remain with their affiliated team and could have even taken Sergio Perez's place if circumstances had been different.

Red Bull chose to continue supporting Perez, which has put Ricciardo's position in his current team at significant risk.

Ricciardo's Unremarkable Performance in Baku

Reflecting on the race in Baku, Ricciardo commented, "It was a challenging race. The beginning seemed fine; the drivers on medium tires ahead of me appeared to be having difficulties, and we managed to close the gap on them."

"I was using the hard tires and aimed to maximize their potential by extending my stint and searching for speed."

"After completing several laps, we noticed significant graining on the tires, which progressively worsened over the course of 10 laps, resulting in a noticeable drop in speed. The team observed that other cars managed to clear the graining more quickly, but it certainly took us a much longer time."

"When we managed to do it, we regained some speed, but we had already fallen far behind. I’ve never encountered graining to this extent before; the lap times varied by as much as four seconds."

"We must figure out why the graining issue lasted longer this time. As for the future, I really enjoy racing at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, so I'm hopeful for a better performance there."

Tsunoda dropped out of the race following a collision with Lance Stroll's Aston Martin on the first lap.

Team leader Laurent Mekies commented, "This weekend did not meet our expectations."

Yuki had the misfortune of getting into an accident during the initial lap, whereas Daniel's speed suffered significantly due to severe tyre wear, preventing him from competing for points.

"This incident is highly uncommon, and we must investigate thoroughly to determine why we were impacted so much more than our rivals."

"Overall, our performance this weekend shows that there's still plenty of work ahead. The updates we introduced have enhanced our performance, which is encouraging."

"Nevertheless, merely equalling the advancements of our rivals won't suffice to re-enter the competition for the top 10."

"All team members in Faenza and Bicester are diligently striving to enhance every aspect and bring in more advancements shortly. We'll find out if we can perform better when we hit the streets of Singapore in a few days."

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