With Daniel Ricciardo aware he has perhaps driven his last race as Red Bull head into a fresh review of their drivers, VCARB boss Laurent Mekies believes such public reveals create too much pressure.
Going into the F1 2024 summer break speculation was swirling regarding the Red Bull drivers, with Sergio Perez seemingly on the brink of being axed and Ricciardo a potential replacement. Now, Red Bull are to assess their driver pool again after the Singapore GP, with Ricciardo this time at risk.
VCARB boss ‘too public’ claim as Daniel Ricciardo axe looms
While Perez retained his Red Bull seat, for Ricciardo at junior team VCARB, his time appears to be up, with Ricciardo cutting an emotional figure in Singapore amid strong speculation that this was his last race as Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson prepares to take over his seat.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said that Ricciardo’s future is part of a “bigger picture” on the Red Bull driver front, which they plan to assess going into this month-long break before the United States Grand Prix.
“We’ve now got a period of time where we’ll evaluate all of the relevant performances of the drivers. It’s a natural break in the season to reflect on that,” Horner told the media in Singapore.
“There’s a bigger picture beyond Daniel.”
But, with Red Bull’s driver considerations once more of public knowledge, VCARB team principal Mekies has questioned that approach.
“There is nothing wrong with reviewing your drivers’ performance every few races, and I think we have perhaps been too public about it,” Mekies claimed via SiriusXM.
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“We have done it in the first part of the season, we have done it quite famously just before the summer break, I guess at some stage we have said we will see after Singapore as well to discuss!
“So it’s part of the game. Certainly sometimes you can see it’s probably going a bit too far in terms of pressure, above all for Daniel in that case.
“I think the first thought is for Daniel, because he has had a lot of that this season. Some reasons it’s been quiet, some races it’s been very difficult, this is for sure one of the very difficult races. Of course, these guys are high level athletes and they know how to deal with it, but sometimes it’s a bit unnecessary.”
Ricciardo got the nod over Lawson to race with VCARB for F1 2024, despite Lawson impressing in a five-race stint last season in the place of the injured Ricciardo.
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