Helmut Marko tells Daniel Ricciardo “we need to come up with something quickly” after a string of disappointing races as three drivers compete for the 2025 Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen I warned you.
The Japanese driver, who lost in qualifying to Yuki Tsunoda for two races in a row, increased his qualifying gap over his teammate to 0.5 seconds in Saudi Arabia and kept his VCARB01 in the top 10.
'A lot is at stake' for Daniel Ricciardo and Hiroki Tsunoda
From the Australian's long pit stop to Tsunoda's five-second penalty for an unsafe release, neither RB driver was able to score a single point, which was disappointing for the highly anticipated junior team. It was the start of the season.
However, amid high expectations that RB will challenge for a mid-table spot in F1, Max Verstappen is even predicted to finish on the podium this season, and there are rumors surrounding who will replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing next season. The dispute is internal.
Perez is winning so far.
With back-to-back runner-up finishes, the Mexican driver is doing exactly what Red Bull wants him to do, finishing second in points behind race winner Verstappen.
However, going further back in RB, it is Tsunoda who is currently being rated next to Marko and seems to have been impressed with his performance at least in qualifying.
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“A word about Racing Bulls,” he said in his Speedweek column. “There's a lot at stake this season for both Yuki and Daniel.
“Yuki's qualifying performance was very good, so Ricciardo needs to come up with something quickly.”
However, with Tsunoda dropping from ninth to 14th in Saudi Arabia, the team has struggled for pace at Grands Prix, and the Austrian is looking for improvements across the board.
“We have work to do,'' Marko added, “at least Tsunoda was very good in qualifying, leading the world championship points in the first stint, but after that he fell further and further behind.
“They can't maintain speed over the long term. We need to figure out if they're putting too much stress on the tires or if there's some other reason.”
With Liam Lawson waiting in the Red Bull side, there is even more at stake for the 2025 season. If Red Bull chooses to continue with Perez, who has done a great job so far this season, either Tsunoda or Ricciardo could find themselves. If the team promotes reserve driver Lawson, he will get the job.
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