‘All over’: Daniel Ricciardo to be sacked in next few weeks

Daniel Ricciardo will reportedly lose his job in the next few weeks with a Red Bull official delivering a death sentence for the Aussie.

Daniel Ricciardo will reportedly be replaced by rising star Liam Lawson next month.

The bombshell news was first reported by a veteran Formula 1 journalist hours after Red Bull kingmaker Helmut Marko made explosive comments about the Australian driver.

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It has all gone wrong for the Aussie driver in 2024 after missing out on his dream promotion to the senior Red Bull team.

The 34-year-old is now facing the prospect of losing his job at the junior Red Bull outfit with plans reportedly being put into action for the Kiwi driver to step into the Visa Cash App RB car as early as next month.

The rumours began swirling after Red Bull chief adviser Marko said it was the team’s plan for Lawson to take over in 2025.

Marko has told Austrian publication Kleine Zeitung that senior Red Bull officials want Lawson.

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images.

“The shareholders have made it clear that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” he said.

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 That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.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

Veteran Formula 1 journalist Joel Saward has now reported the swap could be made in a matter of weeks.

“So, Lawson will be in for Ricciardo at some point. I’d guess the end of July,” Saward posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

When asked by a fan if that is “the end of Ricciardo in F1”, Saward replied: “I’d guess so”.

Ricciardo heads into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix facing the prospect of it being one of his final drives for the team.

There are just a few seats yet to be finalised for the 2025 season across the Formula 1 grid and Ricciardo will be just one of several top drivers suddenly looking for a job.

Ricciardo’s contract with the RB team expires at the end of the 2024 season.

The eight-time grands prix winner was parachuted into the development outfit mid-way through the 2023 season before signing a one-year contract extension through to the end of 2024.

The Red Bull organisation recently extended the contract of Yuki Tsunoda and confirmed its surprising decision to extend the contract of Sergio Perez to be Max Verstappen’s teammate for another two years.

Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images.

Ricciardo has been consistently beaten by his Japanese teammate, who is 7-2 up in qualifying and 5-2 up in grands prix.

Ricciardo admitted just days ago he was feeling the pressure of needing to perform in order to justify the team’s decision to break tradition and sign an experienced driver despite being a driver talent factory for the senior team.

“I obviously want to earn it,” he said. “I don’t just want it to be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, okay, stay another year’. I obviously want to be here because I know that I still belong here and can do performances like I did last week [in Canada].

“It’s also up to me just to make sure that I can keep pulling it out, and in that case, then I’ll be very happy to stay.

“Obviously I would like to stay. Now that I’m back in that Red Bull family, I really don’t see myself anywhere else. That’s where I’d love to stay and continue.”

Ricciardo showed his class with an impressive drive to finish inside the top 10 for the first time this season (not including sprint races) at the Canadian Grand Prix, but it was an abysmal weekend for the entire team at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Ricciardo and Tsunoda were knocked out in Q1 and finished 15th and 18th.

Ricciardo was earlier this month publicly slapped by former world champion Jacques Villeneueve, who questioned why he was still on the F1 grid.

Villeneueve’s scathing attack ignited a war of words between the pair with barbs being traded over the course of the weekend.

Ricciardo’s last win came in 2021 with McLaren at Monza, prior to that the last time he stood atop the podium was in 2018 when he was with Red Bull.