The heat on Daniel Ricciardo for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix has kicked up another notch with the latest warning from Red Bull motorsport supremo Helmut Marko.
Ricciardo has made a slow start to the season at Visa Cash App RB, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda has shown quicker underlying pace than the Australian, particularly in qualifying.
While the season is only two races old, the pressure on Ricciardo has already ramped up given his lofty ambitions of making it back to a Red Bull seat.
Red Bull’s senior adviser Helmut Marko already made it clear he wasn’t impressed before this race weekend, saying Ricciardo needs to “come up with something soon”.
Now, speaking to Sky Germany ahead of Saturday’s qualifying at Albert Park, Marko doubled down on his comments, and offered a more unsettling warning.
“There’s a lot at stake for (Tsunoda and Ricciardo). Both might be hoping for a seat at Red Bull, and one should be well ahead of the other,” Marko is quoted as saying by motorsport.com.
“So far Ricciardo is a bit behind.
“But let’s put it this way: Tsunoda’s qualifying speed is okay. But in the race, both are too slow.”
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Marko added that he believed earning a point was possible for Tsunoda and Ricciardo at each of the first two races, but neither has finished higher than 13th.
“It’s very difficult to score points behind the top five and, when you have an opportunity, you can’t afford to make mistakes. You have to test the decisions in the absolute right order,” he said.
What should also concern Ricciardo is Marko’s change in tune around Red Bull incumbent Sergio Perez, who has shown signs of improvement in 2024.
While still comfortably slower than his world champion teammate Max Verstappen, the Mexican has been relatively untroubled in finishing second in both races.
“Sergio is in a very good position at the moment,” Marko said. “He has delivered two very good races and he’s second in the championship. The question of who should replace Perez doesn’t really arise.
“But it’s about the future. Perez is no longer the youngest, nor is Ricciardo.
“And if you then take other aspects into account, another driver could certainly be included in this process.”
Ricciardo was slower than Tsunoda in both of Friday’s practice sessions in Melbourne and will be hoping that overnight changes can unlock his potential for the rest of the weekend.
Cars will be back on track for practice three at 12.30pm (AEDT).
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‘MASSIVELY BACKFIRED’
Also looking to change his fortunes on Saturday will be Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after his worst day yet in the team’s 2024 challenger.
Hamilton languished in P18 in FP2 after changes that were made to his car “massively backfired”, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said.
“In the second session, we have gone through a really quite dramatic set-up change on Lewis. That has massively backfired,” Wolff said. “But this is why we are having those sessions.”
Hamilton didn’t hold back in his assessment of the day, which he described as one of the worst he’s had to endure.
“P1 generally felt quite good; the car actually in P1, run one, felt the best it’s ever felt, then it just got worse and worse. I made some changes, big changes into … well, we made some big changes into P2, and it was tough,” he said.
“After that session I feel the least confident I’ve ever felt with this car, but there are positives from that P1 run that we did.”
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HOW TO WATCH
The entire Australian Grand Prix, including every practice, qualifying and race, can be watched live and ad-break free on Foxtel.
Kayo Sports subscribers can also watch every practice, qualifying session and race of the F1 live in 4K for the first time.
F1, F2, F3 SCHEDULE (AEDT)
Saturday, March 23
11.15am – 12pm: Formula 3 Sprint Race
12.30pm-1.30pm: F1 Practice 3
2.15pm – 3.05pm: Formula 2 Sprint Race
4pm-5pm: F1 Qualifying
SUPERCARS SCHEDULE
Saturday March 23
9am-9.15: Race 5 Qualifying
9.25am-9.40: Race 6 Qualifying
5.35pm-6.10pm: Race 5 (15 laps)
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Source Agencies
