Ricciardo hopes he gets his last chance

Daniel Ricciardo is among the drivers whose future fate in Formula 1 appears uncertain, even after Helmut Marko’s recent statement that Red Bull has already made a decision on Liam Lawson.

It is possible that the young New Zealander will become Yuki Tsunoda’s new partner at VIsa RB, despite the fact that the contract with the Japanese rider was confirmed at the beginning of June.

However, things have been going very badly for Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing recently – perhaps that’s why Daniel hasn’t given up hope that he’ll still get his chance.

During the time that Ricciardo was Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, he performed quite well, and that was memorable, but when the Australian moved to Renault, and from there to McLaren, his results dropped significantly. Although he still managed to take one win behind the wheel of a McLaren car – that was three years ago in Monza, but special circumstances contributed to that.

Over 14 races this season, Daniel has scored 12 points, while Yuki Tsunoda, his partner, has scored almost twice as many, which also leads to some thoughts. But when asked during an interview with RacingNews365 if he wanted one more, probably last, chance to compete with Verstappen behind the wheel of identical cars, Ricciardo said:

‘Yes, and I’m not going to give a diplomatic answer. Of course I would. But I know I have to earn it. They won’t just give it to me, but if I earn it, and if such an opportunity really arises, I’ll of course be happy to try. In general, we’ll see.

Do I have real chances now? I would say no, but things can change. In Canada, for example, I felt some pressure, and there were reasons for that, but I worked well that weekend. Suddenly they started talking about me like this: “He’s really back to his old level.”

But if you don’t do well the next weekend, you get criticized again. So the weekends are different. Do I want to perform great every weekend? Definitely!”