There was a time late last year when it seriously felt like Daniel Ricciardo might take Sergio Perez's F1 seat at Red Bull in 2025.
Ricciardo made it clear when he returned to the grid with AlphaTauri (now RB) mid-season that his ultimate aim was to return to the Red Bull seat he vacated in 2018, and with Perez struggling in the second half of the season that only looked more likely.
However, Ricciardo did little to assert himself at the start of 2024. He frequently fell behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda and, apart from a fourth-place finish in the Miami sprint qualifying and race, had failed to score any points by Canada and was sitting at 14th in the drivers' standings. Meanwhile, Pérez performed well enough to secure a contract extension until 2026, dashing any hopes of Ricciardo climbing the ranks in the near future.
Following Perez's approval, Ricciardo admitted that “I probably take responsibility for not being very prominent” this season. “To be able to fight for the top spots you have to do something pretty incredible,” he said.
By the Canadian Grand Prix, Ricciardo's struggles at the start of the season had changed his focus from fighting for the top seat to fighting for his current seat.
No one questioned Ricciardo's future more than 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who was part of the Sky Sports broadcast team at his home race in Montreal.
Jacques Villeneuve delivered some harsh criticism of Daniel Ricciardo in Montreal (Chris Grayzan/Getty Images)
“Why is he still here?” Villeneuve said of Ricciardo, questioning why he continues to struggle with his own car and declaring that “his image, more than his actual performance, is what keeps him in F1.” It was a scathing criticism, and one that quickly became a talking point, as it is highly unusual for a commentator to be so outspoken on an English-language F1 broadcast.
Villeneuve was harsh – perhaps too harsh – but few would dispute the veracity of what he said, and Ricciardo has been clear all year that he knows he hasn't done a good enough job and that he still needs to perform better.
Just 24 hours later, he found it. In windy and difficult conditions, Ricciardo not only made it into Q3 for the second time this season, but also put the RB car in fifth place on the grid, just 0.2sec off pole. The timing was perfect, especially since Tsunoda had confirmed his RB for 2025 just 90 minutes earlier.
It meant that Ricciardo faced the media after qualifying with his old confidence and vigour back. He knew what questions were coming and that Villeneuve's name would be mentioned. Ricciardo hadn't really heard what was being said about him, but simply said: “I heard Villeneuve is talking rubbish.”
“But he does that all the time,” Ricardo continued. “I think he hit his head too many times. I don't know if he plays ice hockey or something. But yeah. Anyway, I don't give him any time.” Then he said, “But,” and stepped up to the microphone, “Hold on guys! I want to say more, but it's OK. Let's leave him alone.”
It was only qualifying, after all – Ricciardo's flashes of brilliance in the Miami sprint vanished in the Grand Prix sessions – but it was a perfectly timed rebuttal to Villeneuve's criticism.
But linking the two directly would be to Ricciardo's detriment. He revealed after Monaco that he had done all he could to understand why things were going wrong, beyond on-track performance and data such as braking points and corner speeds. He had to reach out to the team's management and engineers, as well as his inner circle off the track, and ask for honest feedback.

Ricciardo qualified fifth and finished eighth during a rainy weekend in Montreal. (Rudy Carezevoli/Getty Images)
“So it was like, what else is there that's affecting my performance,” Ricciardo said. “Am I coming into the race weekend with no energy or feeling this or that?”
“I think after Monaco I did a bit of good self-therapy and just sat down and looked at what I was doing wrong away from the track. Or maybe I was spending too much time on other people and then when it came to race day or whatever I was being a bit mediocre.”
“Deep down, I know what I'm capable of doing. I just need to make sure I'm in a position to be able to do it more often.”
And make those moments of speed count when it matters on Sunday.Ricciardo's Canadian Grand Prix was anything but easy, with a slow car starting off the start line (Ricciardo suspected a clutch problem was to blame), a jump start and a five-second penalty.He managed to navigate the mess and take advantage of a late incident to finish eighth and collect four points, nearly doubling his season total.For Ricciardo, that alone felt like a success in a high-pressure situation.
“Overall I'm happy,” he said. “It's hard to be perfect in a race like this, I made mistakes and of course sometimes I was just trying to survive, so I'm happy to get there in the end.”

Canada was Ricciardo's first Grand Prix in the points. (Rudy Carezevoli/Getty Images)
For Ricciardo, the biggest takeaway from the Montreal weekend was how well he progressed from the first lap in FP1 through to the race, with every session feeling positive for the first time this season.
“I'm happy to have been competitive from Friday to Sunday,” Ricciardo said. “I'm happy and I just need to keep going.”
Ricciardo still has time to prove himself to Red Bull and secure a contract extension with RB. If Red Bull want to make a change, reserve driver Liam Lawson is ready to step up – as the young New Zealander proved when he filled in for five races when Ricciardo was injured last year – but there's no reason for the team to rush into that decision just yet.
Ricciardo is hoping Montreal will be a turning point for his season, a breakthrough that will allow him to use what he has learned in training to gain a better understanding of where he went wrong, and most importantly, he wants to make sure he maintains the feeling he had last weekend.
“We have to make sure we keep that bit of energy, that bit of spirit that we brought to the weekend and keep that level of intensity,” Ricciardo said.
“I don't know if I need to be a little angry sometimes, or if I need a boost of testosterone, but I think it helps.”
(Daniel Ricciardo Main Photo: Rudy Carezevoli/Getty Images)