Red Bull Pushed to “Replace Daniel Ricciardo” as Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda Increase the Pressure

It seems that Daniel Ricciardo‘s McLaren struggle is replaying in 2024. Red Bull took the leap of faith with him only to now question their decision. The Honey Badger’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda showed once again in Japan why he deserves to be VCARB’s team leader, if not get an RB promotion. And with Liam Lawson looking outside Red Bull, the Milton Keynes outfit has now been urged to axe Ricciardo.

With every passing race weekend, Ricciardo is making a strong case for Liam Lawson. The 8-time Grand Prix winner crashed out in Lap 1 at Suzuka while his teammate scored points at his home race. This has taken Tsunoda’s tally to 7 points in 4 races compared to Ricciardo’s 0. At such a vulnerable time for the Australian driver, Dutch racer Jeroen Bleekemolen believes he needs to be replaced by 22-year-old Lawson.

“I really think he can still achieve good results, perhaps surprise here or there in a race,” Bleekemolen wrote for Formule1.nl. “And yes, he can’t help it if a racing incident caused him to finish on the first lap in Japan. But Tsunoda is in better shape, Ricciardo is under pressure, and due to his age (33 years old) he does not have a great future.”

He further added, “If you have someone like Liam Lawson behind you, who does have a future and has already shown that he can achieve good results… No matter how lame, but I still say: replace Ricciardo.”

While the common consensus from analysts and fans seems to be the same as Bleekemolen, VCARB believes otherwise. They are going out of their way to provide Ricciardo with a new setup for China.

VCARB will specially equip Daniel Ricciardo’s car with a new chassis for the Chinese GP

After the Japanese GP, Daniel Ricciardo said that his crash was a “shame and unfortunate one” for all involved. Though his car didn’t seem to sustain great damage, it looked like VCARB would need to repair a considerable amount. But what might ease their process is that the team had already intended to change the chassis.

Their sporting director Alan Permane revealed that they intend to change the chassis on Ricciardo’s VCARB 01. The main intention behind this decision is to rid the Aussie of any doubts regarding his car’s lack of pace.

Can the Honey Badger benefit from this boost when F1 lands in Shanghai?

Read More: “Is Daniel That Bad?”: Helmut Marko Doubts VCARB Seat as Ricciardo Gets “Slower” Than Yuki Tsunoda