Sometime late last year, there was a real sense that Daniel Ricciardo was lining up for Sergio Pérez’s Formula 1 seat at Red Bull in 2025.
Ricciardo made it clear when he returned to the track mid-season with AlphaTauri (now RB) that a return to Red Bull Racing (the seat he vacated in 2018) was his ultimate goal. Speculation about this happening grew as Perez struggled in the second half of the season.
However, Ricciardo has done little to prove his point at the start of 2024. Points earned and only 14th place in the driver’s standings. Meanwhile, Perez’s performance was enough to secure a contract extension until 2026, ending Ricciardo’s hopes of promotion in the near future.
Following Perez’s confirmation, Ricciardo admitted he had to “hold himself accountable for not doing anything too great” this season. “When you’re trying to compete for the top seat, you need to do some really great things,” he said.
By the time it was the Canadian Grand Prix, Ricciardo’s difficult start to the season had changed his goals from fighting for first place to fighting for his current seat.
No one has questioned Ricciardo’s future further than 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who is part of Sky Sports’ broadcast team for the home race in Montreal.
Jacques Villeneuve had harsh criticism for Daniel Ricciardo in Montreal. (Chris Grayson/Getty Images)
“Why is he still here?” Villeneuve said of Ricciardo, asking why he continued to struggle with his car, declaring that “his image will keep him in F1 more than his actual results.” It was a brutal crackdown, and considering how rare it is for a commentator to be so outspoken on an F1 English broadcast, the incident quickly went viral.
Villeneuve was harsh—perhaps too harsh—but few would question the veracity of what he said. Ricciardo has been clear this year that he knows he isn’t good enough and has a lot to look for.
Just 24 hours later, he found it. In tricky windy conditions, not only did Ricciardo reach Q3 for the second time this season, but his RB car finished fifth on the grid, just two-tenths shy of pole position. Perfect timing, especially after Tsunoda confirmed the 2025 RB’s tenure just 90 minutes early.
That meant Ricciardo entered the media circle after qualifying with his old swagger and radiance. He knew the issues were coming, that Villeneuve’s name would come up. Ricardo didn’t fully hear what people said about him, he said, but “heard him keep saying -“.
“But he always does it,” Ricardo continued. “I think he’s been hit in the head too many times, I don’t know if he plays hockey or something. But yeah. Anyway. I’m not going to give him time. And then a ‘but…’ and then leaning into the microphone: “All these people can suck! I want to say more, but that’s okay. We will leave him behind.
After all, this is just qualifying. We saw flashes of this from Ricciardo in the Miami sprint, but when it became relevant in the Grand Prix it was gone. Still, it’s a well-timed riposte to Villeneuve’s criticism.
But connecting the two directly would do Ricciardo a disservice. He revealed that after Monaco he made a concerted effort to try to understand why things weren’t working, looking beyond his on-track performance and data such as braking points or corner speeds. That required calling out not only the team’s management and engineers, but also his inner circle off the track and asking them to publicly provide feedback.
Ricciardo finished fifth and finished eighth on a rainy weekend in Montreal. (Rudy Carresevoli/Getty Images)
“It’s like, okay, what other factors affected my performance?” Ricciardo said. “Do I feel like I have no energy or feel one way or the other going into a race weekend?
“I think after Monaco I just had some good self-therapy and then sat back and looked at what I might have done wrong off the track. Or spending too much time on other people, when I got to race day or Other times, I became more bland.
“Deep down, I know what I’m capable of, and it’s just about making sure I’m able to do it more often.”
And making sure those split-second rhythms turn into something valuable when it matters on Sunday. Ricciardo’s Canadian Grand Prix was far from smooth sailing, with a car crawling to a crawl on the starting line – which Ricciardo suspected was due to a clutch problem – triggering a false start and a five-second penalty. He managed to survive the chaos and benefit from some late events to finish 8th with 4 points, almost double his season total. For Ricciardo, that alone felt like success in high-pressure conditions.
“All in all, (I’m) happy,” he said. “These games, it’s hard to be perfect. I made mistakes and obviously we were just trying to survive at times. So (I’m) happy that we ended up getting there.
Canada was the first Grand Prix where Ricciardo scored points. (Rudy Carresevoli/Getty Images)
Ricciardo’s biggest takeaway from the weekend in Montreal was that from the moment he entered the race on his first lap in FP1, everything went smoothly. For the first time this season, every practice feels positive.
“It’s great to be competitive from Friday to Sunday,” Ricciardo said. “I’m happy. (I) have to keep it going.
Ricciardo has time to prove his ability to Red Bull and renew his contract with Red Bull. If a change is wanted, reserve driver Liam Lawson is ready to step up, as the young New Zealander proved by being a five-race substitute when Ricciardo was injured last year . But the team has no reason to rush into that decision yet.
Ricciardo hopes Montreal will be a turning point in his season, a breakout after lifting weights early on to better understand where he went wrong. Importantly, he also wants to make sure he maintains the feeling he had last weekend.
“That little bit of energy that I bring at the weekend, that little bit of pressure, I have to make sure it stays there and keeps that intensity,” Ricciardo said.
“Sometimes it’s a little…I don’t know if I need to be a little angry or just get my testosterone up. But I think it helps me.
(Main photo of Daniel Ricciardo: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
