The time is nearly up for Daniel Ricciardo. The 8-time Grand Prix winner appears to be a shadow of his former self and is battling hard to save his VCARB seat from 22-year-old Liam Lawson. Helmut Marko has promised the rookie a seat for 2025, but there seems to be some hold-up. It’s as if Red Bull is waiting for Ricciardo to fail better, so their hunch is confirmed. But this wasn’t how it began.

Christian Horner re-inducted the Honey Badger into VCARB hoping he’d deservedly earn the Red Bull seat. After all, their main problem was the underperforming, under-confident Sergio Perez. But let alone the Mexican’s seat, Ricciardo hasn’t even been able to match junior teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The Aussie has only scored 12 points in 14 races, compared to his Japanese teammate’s 22. Moreover, Helmut Marko has now announced a deadline to confirm Liam Lawson’s future.

“It’s a tough time for someone like Liam, especially as he jumped into the car under very, very difficult circumstances and did very well,” Marko said, addressing the New Zealander’s debut in 2023 when he temporarily replaced an injured Ricciardo. “We rate him high and he will get his chance. Just wait. September, you will have an answer,” he concluded.

Other reports have also confirmed that Lawson is bound to Red Bull only till September 1. If the team doesn’t give him a seat by then, he is free to pursue other opportunities with rival teams. This means Ricciardo’s deadline to prove himself also becomes the same. However, there is only one race, the Dutch GP, from August 23 to 25, before that deadline. Even if we keep that aside, there was one condition Marko set for VCARB’s driver line-up. Because Ricciardo cannot fulfill it, he has very slyly turned the decision in his favor.

Daniel Ricciardo’s clever attempt at defending his VCARB seat

Historically, VCARB, formerly AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso, has been Red Bull’s junior team. The young talents that Helmut Marko scouts go through trial by fire there to earn a Red Bull promotion. Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel, and many others have gone through the same. However, signing a 34-year-old (35 now) Ricciardo in 2023 defied their principles.

Now that Liam Lawson is waiting in the wings, they want to go back to their old set up. In early June, Helmut Marko commented on Ricciardo’s future, reiterating that VCARB is the “junior team”. Thus, he doesn’t belong there, but Lawson does. But to shed this barrier, the Honey Badger has now attempted to change VCARB’s reputation. Highlighting the changes brought by new top management, he explained how “this isn’t a junior team anymore. We’re making kind of, big boy decisions. We’re taking risks and we’re setting targets and high targets, and ones that we realistically think that we can attain. So, it’s cool. It’s cool to see it.”

“I’m probably too, in a way, like honest in myself that if it felt like a junior team still, I wouldn’t feel comfortable here. I’m 35 now. So, I think I would feel a bit out of place, and I certainly don’t, so I think that’s also a good way to probably comprehend it,” he added.

The only way Ricciardo can save his F1 career is if Sergio Perez fumbles his final chance. Moreover, the Aussie has regained quite some confidence and found his mojo in the last two races. And if the stars align, he could still get the ‘fairytale’ ending he desires.