BUDAPEST, Hungary – Daniel Ricciardo said he is treating the next two race weekends as the most important of his Formula One career, regardless of the situation with Sergio Perez at Red Bull.
Ricciardo has struggled for consistent form since returning to Red Bull’s junior team, RB, exactly one year ago.
He was once seen as the natural replacement for Perez should Red Bull decide to make a swap, but reserve driver Liam Lawson now appears to be the favoured option in that outcome.
Sources have told ESPN that last month Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Ricciardo he had until the summer break to save his longer term future with the junior team, so just keeping his career going is the priority for the eight-time race winner.
“I haven’t been told anything, but I’ve told myself if I can do it, go fast,” he said about the prospect of a summer shake up at Red Bull’s teams.
“You’ve got two races to give it hell. And that’s honestly not even with the the idea of moving up, it’s even just trying to lock something in for next year.
“I intentionally came into the weekend telling myself that these two races could be two of the most important of not only my season but potentially my career. They haven’t specifically said anything to me but I’ve said enough to myself.”
Ricciardo produced a timely return to some form on Saturday, progressing through to Q3.
That came after Perez had crashed out of Q1, which appeared to increase the likelihood of him losing his F1 drive in August.
Yuki Tsunoda, who Horner does not consider a suitable candidate to partner Verstappen at the top team, also crashed out at the end of Q3 in the other RB car.
Ricciardo said mistakes like those are just part of racing for either of Red Bull’s teams.
“Look. we’re pushing, it’s Q3, I’m not making an excuse for Yuki but that corner you just have no margin. So you drop a wheel there and it’s game over. So that was that. And then Checo’s, I know that was probably when it was still a little bit damper, and these conditions you’ve got to send it and put it all on the line and small mistakes obviously have big consequences.
“So there’s a lot of pressure on not only us and Red Bull right now, but everyone in that situation. So everyone has moments but when you cross the line sometimes you’re just like ‘Thank you’.”