Did you hope to see the Honey Badger retain his VCARB seat in 2025? Well, unfortunately, recent developments claim the opposite. Daniel Ricciardo‘s chances of staying on as a regular driver for Visa CashApp Racing Bulls just took a hit. This is because the team’s recruiter Helmut Marko has delivered his verdict, favoring Liam Lawson as the Australian’s replacement.
The driver situation at AlphaTauri’s new form, VCARB, is currently up for debate in F1 town. Daniel Ricciardo joined the team last year when Marko had ousted Nyck deVries. The Australian has continued to drive for the Faenza outfit this year as well. However, his results show a significant difference from that of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. This has put Ricciardo in a difficult situation since Helmut Marko is known to axe low-scoring drivers who fail to impress him.
Red Bull’s reserve driver, Liam Lawson made headlines when he substituted Ricciardo at two outings last year. The New Zealander came close to finishing in the points at the Dutch GP and ended up with 2 points in Qatar. With this level of performance, he is the perfect candidate to replace 35-year-old Daniel Ricciardo.
Kleine Zeitung reported that Marko spilled his plans for filling up the Racing Bulls seat, saying, “The shareholders have made it known that it [VCARB] is a junior team and we have to act accordingly. We have to put a young driver in there soon. That would be Liam Lawson.”
These last five words have delivered a scathing blow to any hopes that Daniel Ricciardo was harboring for his F1 seat in 2025. But what else did Helmut Marko say to further hurt Ricciardo’s Red Bull chances?
Marko slams the door on Daniel Ricciardo partnering Max Verstappen
Between 2014 and 2018, Daniel Ricciardo had multiple Grand Prix victories to his name. The Australian left the Red Bull later to take up a massive offer from Renault. But his career never touched the highs it had during his time at the Milton-Keynes outfit. Thus, the Perth native hoped to make a comeback to Red Bull when the team gave him a reserve role last year.
However, it doesn’t seem Ricciardo will get to drive for Red Bull anytime soon. The reigning F1 champion team has signed a contract extension with their existing driver Sergio Perez. Talking about it, Helmut Marko said, “The goal was that he would be considered for Red Bull Racing with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.” This has almost ended Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull hopes.
With his VCARB seat at risk of being seized by Liam Lawson and his Red Bull hopes quashed, Daniel Ricciardo has to look outside the RBR umbrella now. The Aussie can still go for seats at Alpine and the Stake F1 team where Esteban Ocon’s and Valtteri Bottas’ contracts are ending.
Do you think the Honey Badger would settle for a seat at those squads or would he simply retire because he never got to drive for Red Bull again? Let us know what you think by commenting below.
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