Ted Kravitz believes 34-year-old F1 driver is destined for podiums this year

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Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz has predicted a very positive campaign for Visa Cash App RB driver Daniel Ricciardo and believes he could challenge for several podiums this year.

Pre-season testing in Bahrain taught us an awful lot about the 2024 grid, but RB – or V-CARB – were one of the surprise outfits.

Answering questions on Sky Sports’s website, Kravitz revealed his high hopes for the Australian and his prediction for his future in the sport.

Kravitz predicts podiums for Ricciardo

Although no drivers changed teams over the winter before the 2024 season, Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t in the position he is now 12 months ago.

Instead, he was watching on as Red Bull reserve driver until Nyck de Vries wasn’t up to scratch and he was placed in the AlphaTauri.

The £106,000-a-week driver did enough to earn a contract for 2024 despite his wrist injury that ruled him out for five races and gave Liam Lawson the chance to shine.

While AlphaTauri were improving towards the end of 2023, they’ve made big steps forward already this year.

They may have already leapfrogged Alpine and Williams and could have an outside chance of challenging at the very front of the pack.

Ted Kravitz has now admitted he could see Ricciardo competing for podiums and that might be just the boost he needs to achieve his next Formula 1 dream.

He faces stiff competition from teammate Yuki Tsunoda who is also gunning for Sergio Perez’s seat, and the Mexican is already under extreme pressure with his current deal expiring at the end of the year.

Ricciardo has a golden opportunity with RB in 2024

Speaking about the Australian, Ted Kravitz said: “Firstly, I think he’s going to have a very good season. I think he’s going to be on the podium at least once in that RB. I think he’s going to score a lot of points and help move that team forward.

“They’ve got a lot of big technical signings – Tim Goss, a very experienced technical guy, and a lot of people have joined from other teams, including Red Bull.

“And as for replacing Perez, Daniel is still, I think, the number one candidate to replace Perez, now that they can’t get Lando and Lewis has gone elsewhere, it’s really between Ricciardo and Sainz.

“I just think Ricciardo would be a little bit better for inter-team morale, purely because it didn’t end particularly well when Sainz and Verstappen were team-mates. But they’re both older and they’ve both moved on a lot from the Toro Rosso days, so maybe it might work.

“But I still think somewhere deep in Red Bull, the plan is for Danny Ric to replace Checo in 2025.”

If Ricciardo can secure a couple of podiums as Kravitz predicts then he may be very difficult for Red Bull to ignore.

It may also incur the wrath of McLaren boss Zak Brown who is unhappy with the improving relationship between RB and Red Bull.

That won’t matter to Ricciardo though if he’s regularly challenging for points.

He’ll also know that if he begins to underperform, Lawson is once again waiting in the wings for another opportunity.