Daniel Ricciardo ‘telling myself’ one thing to save F1 career with RB future at risk

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Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the one thing the Visa Cash App RB driver is ‘telling myself’ to save his Formula 1 career amid doubts about his seat on the 2025 grid.

The field for next season is quickly filling up with just two drives still available among the 20 seats. Ricciardo occupies one of the seats up for grabs with RB still to announce who will be teammates with Yuki Tsunoda next year. Audi is also yet to confirm the second Sauber racer.

Ricciardo had returned to Faenza midway through the 2023 season to replace Nyck de Vries with the view of forcing a route back to Red Bull. But his aims for returning to Milton Keynes hit a blip when Red Bull extended Sergio Perez’s contract, so Ricciardo’s full focus is on RB.

Daniel Ricciardo is driving for Visa Cash App RB like his Formula 1 future is on the line

Either Ricciardo will sign a new contract with Visa Cash App RB for 2025 or he will step aside from a Formula 1 race seat next year. While there remains a slim possibility that Red Bull opt to pay Perez off, Liam Lawson is also being tipped to partner Tsunoda at RB next season.

So, given the uncertainty in the Red Bull family, Ricciardo admits he must ‘shake myself’ and drive like his future in Formula 1 is on the line over the final eight rounds of this year. Even if RB do elect to give the Perth native a new deal, he is also eager to race with it all on the line.

READ MORE: F1 2025 driver line-up with every team’s confirmed entry for the grid

Ricciardo believes racing as if his future depends on it is getting the best out of him after an upturn in results. Red Bull extended Perez’s contract after Ricciardo started the season with no top-10 finishes in the first eight Grand Prix before scoring in three of the following eight.

“It needs to be the mindset,” Ricciardo said, via Speedcafe. “And if I feel like I’m softening that, then I need to kind of shake myself a little bit and make sure I’m not.

“It is still very important but I also think I am still learning, which is great, and I think that mindset is a much better one for me.

“When there’s a bit on the line, when that pressure is a little bit higher, it in a way kind of increases that spark in me and stops me from feeling a little bit, maybe relaxed or whatever you want to say.

“I’ve just got to make sure that I still [do], and I think this is still the case. But even if, for whatever reason, they weren’t, even if I signed a contract today, I still should be telling myself that they are because I think that’s where I operate the best for myself.”

Daniel Ricciardo must deliver in the Singapore Grand Prix to deny Liam Lawson

Formula 1 goes to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next time out followed by the Singapore Grand Prix, two races Ricciardo has not contested since being axed by McLaren after 2022. He was Red Bull’s reserve driver when F1 visited Baku in 2023 and missed Singapore through injury.

If Ricciardo struggles at the Singapore Grand Prix, in particular, Red Bull may feel the writing is on the wall to give Lawson the seat at Visa Cash App RB next year. It was at Marina Bay in 2023 where Lawson was the only Red Bull family driver to reach Q3 and scored points in P9.