Daniel Ricciardo dealt crushing blow as Red Bull confirm driver news
Daniel Ricciardo has been dealt a crushing F1 blow less than 24 hours after the rumour mill erupted about a possible move.
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Red Bull have shut the door on Daniel Ricciardo slotting into the seat alongside Max Verstappen in 2024.
A day after the Belgian Grand Prix was run, the team confirmed that they wouldn’t be making any changes to their driver line-up.
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The Formula 1 rumour mill was sent into overdrive on Monday (AEST) when 35-year-old Ricciardo was spotted chatting with Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
In the footage, which you can watch above, Ricciardo was seen in a lengthy conversation with Horner, and his VCARB counterpart Laurent Mekies.
The discussion looked to be in good nature, and ended with a warm handshake between Ricciardo and Horner, before Aussie happily skipped away with a smile on his face.
Only adding further fuel to the fire was a second video posted by Verstappen, in which he left Spa in a helicopter with Ricciardo.
But less than 24 hours later those hopes were extinguished with Red Bull announcing that Sergio Perez would be staying on.
“Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver, despite all the speculation of late. We look forward to seeing him perform on circuits where he has done well before after the summer break,” Horner said at the Red Bull factory on Tuesday, according to De Telegraaf.
It’s not the news Ricciardo would have been hoping for as he gets to set to duke it out against promising New Zealand star Liam Lawson.
The junior driver has been linked with the Visa Cash App RB team and was even touted as a candidate to replace Perez.
The duo are set to get behind the wheel of a 2022-spec AlphaTauri AT03 at Imola in what is believed to be an outing to pit the two against one another.
Red Bull chief adviser Helmut Marko in June noted that senior Red Bull officials want Lawson.
“The shareholders have made it clear that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” he said.
“We will have to put a young driver in there soon. That would be Liam Lawson.”
If Lawson impresses and the team elect to go with Lawson from 2025 onwards, the options for Ricciardo are supremely limited.
Only three seats remain open for next season with Mercedes, Alpine and Sauber all having one spot left to fill.
One of the remaining seats was filled on Tuesday (AEST) when Carlos Sainz put pen to paper on a mult-year deal that will see him join Williams next season.
The Spaniard’s future beyond this season had been the subject of intense speculation with his name linked to a host of potential moves.
In the end, it was Williams who secured the highly sought-after driver, who is set to race for the team in 2025 and 2026.
“It is no secret that this year’s driver market has been exceptionally complex for various reasons and that it has taken me some time to announce my decision,” Sainz said in a statement published on the Williams website.
“However, I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport.
“The ultimate goal of bringing Williams back to where it belongs, at the front of the grid, is a challenge that I embrace with excitement and positivity.
“I am convinced that this team has all the right ingredients to make history again and, starting on January 1, I will give my absolute best to drive Williams forward alongside every single member of the team.”
The Formula 1 season will return after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix on August 25.
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