Daniel Ricciardo has accepted that Formula 1 is a “results-driven” business as he acknowledged that his chances of securing a return to Red Bull remain in his hands.
Ricciardo entered the current campaign with RB striving to impress enough to earn a promotion back to the seat with the parent Red Bull side that he vacated in 2018.
However, the Australian has endured an inconsistent season and trails nine points behind less experienced team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who will remain with RB in 2025.
With Sergio Perez landing a contract extension, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko hinted that reserve driver Liam Lawson was being lined up to take Ricciardo’s RB drive.
But Perez’s struggles – which have seen him bag 15 points across the last six rounds – have heightened rumours that Ricciardo could replace the Mexican mid-season.
Ricciardo isn’t getting caught up in the speculation, though, as he cited that the pressure to extract consistent results is attached to all drivers competing in the series.
“I guess it depends how we are spotlighted in the media, but the truth is every driver is under pressure,” Ricciardo explained.
“Even the ones that are killing it, there is then pressure for them to keep performing. So my point is we all feel it.
“Obviously I’ve been in the spotlight a bit this year, Checo’s in the spotlight.
“So it’s a little bit of, even after my good race in Montreal, I said, ‘look, I need to do another good one because you’re only as good as your last race’.
“And one good weekend doesn’t quite let you off the hook. So it temporarily does, but then it can quickly change.
“So look, yes, of course, I know I’ve seen some statistics. Max [Verstappen] has scored a lot more points than Checo. And of course, yes, they are expecting a bit more.
“But this is the sport, it’s what we’re in. We feel it all the time. It’s just who is the spotlight of the week. Yeah, it’s up to us to obviously try to shut it out and it’s not easy as well.
“Sometimes you know if everyone is just always asking you questions about okay, ‘you have this you have that’ and it’s it feels sometimes very negative or can sometimes feel heavy.
“But I think in my experience, and I put Checo here as well because he’s also been in Formula 1 similar amount of time, we have dealt with it enough that I think you learn just to realise that the focus on the engineering, focus on the car set up and the rest you hear it but you just have to just roll with it.”
However, Ricciardo has admitted that ignoring recurring reports over future prospects can be tough for a driver when attempting to improve their on-track showings.
“It can feel relentless and obviously I experienced it a bit at McLaren and of course, those sessions, those media sessions, they’re not exactly enjoyable,” he added.
“So, you’d be lying if you said, ‘oh, it doesn’t bother me’ or take a little bit away, but you have to accept that and try to then just deal with it.
“So, as I said, it’s part of it. I always try to be like the bigger person in terms of, ‘yep, it’s what I signed up for’.
“I’m trying to be the best in the world at something and at times I’ll probably fall short and this is now what’s going to come with it.
“So yeah, it’s like you make your own bed and you just have to be okay laying in it sometimes if the sheets aren’t made. It’s a nice quote, I’ll copyright that!”
Ricciardo is considered the main candidate to take over Perez’s position at Red Bull should a change materialise, despite Tsunoda being the highest-placed RB driver.
But the eight-time F1 race winner could have competition from Lawson, who undertook a test in Red Bull’s RB20 last week and covered Ricciardo’s absence last term.
Asked whether it would be strange should Red Bull overlook him or Tsunoda, Ricciardo responded: “I guess the stranger depends, you know, who the stranger is.
“But look, I think being in the Red Bull family in this program, I’m not a junior anymore, but I know how it works, so it’s always result-driven.
“I think if we are doing good enough, then we put ourselves in the best seat, you know, in terms of if there is some movement, then we hold the power in our results.
“So yeah, I think it’s like always, there’s so much things happening in F1. But at the end of the day, it’s in our control what we do behind the wheel and what the stopwatch says.
“So try to control the controllables. And I think in that situation, quite a lot is in our hands.”
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