Rumours have once again been circulating about the future of Daniel Ricciardo, with a potential move to Williams Racing on the cards, according to F1 presenter Will Buxton.
Ricciardo’s future with the Oracle Red Bull Racing family is uncertain. The Australian was brought back to put pressure on Sergio Pérez and earn a promotion back to the main team but after a difficult start to 2024, he was unable to do so and Red Bull put their faith in Pérez, handing the Mexican an extension. Dr. Helmut Marko has also been mounting the pressure on Ricciardo, claiming that Liam Lawson is ready to replace him at Visa Cash App RB.
Ricciardo has been in good form over the past few races, beating Yuki Tsunoda in Montreal, Barcelona and Spielberg, while also scoring points in two of these race weekends. If the 35-year-old stays in this sort of form, he may not have to worry about his future with RB, although Marko has come out and made a case for RB being a junior team and needing young drivers to develop.
Buxton has claimed on F1TV that Ricciardo is in conversations with Williams to partner Alex Albon in 2025: “His entire future [is] on the line right now,” he told F1TV. “There is much talk that he will be out of this seat after the summer break.
“There is talk that he may be in negotiations with Williams for their second seat next year alongside Alex Albon. Williams, as we understand, are sick of waiting for Carlos Sainz to make his mind up on where he wants to go next year and may close that door off for him.”
Ricciardo did say in Austria that he wasn’t looking elsewhere and it was either RB or nothing in 2025: “I would say no [I don’t have other options]. I don’t know but I am, not to be stubborn or arrogant about it, but I’m not looking anywhere else.
“I said I really do enjoy being back in the [Red Bull] family. I weirdly do enjoy sometimes a little bit of the pokes from Helmut because I think it also could also be a way to get me a little bit fired up and try to get the best out of me.”
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