Helmut Marko’s new contract disastrous for the future of one Red Bull driver

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There’s never a dull weekend within the Red Bull Racing family and the Hungarian Grand Prix was no exception.

They ended qualifying with the daunting prospect of fixing Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda’s cars after they both had big incidents in tricky conditions at the Hungaroring.

Daniel Ricciardo lamented an awful race strategy on Sunday after starting ahead of his teammate and finishing behind him.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen was furious with the team over the team radio as Red Bull failed to help the Dutchman return to winning ways at the Hungaroring.

However, there may have been a silver lining of good news for Red Bull when it comes to their contract talks.

Helmut Marko has reached a new agreement with Red Bull that sees him staying with the team until the end of the 2026 season.

Marko’s future is intertwined with Verstappen’s and so now any move from the Dutchman’s team to try and move him on will be much more difficult to execute.

However, speaking on the F1 Insider YouTube channel, journalist Ralf Bach believes Marko’s new deal might be bad news for someone else in the Red Bull group.

The future of every driver in the Red Bull flock is under threat, aside from Tsunoda who is already tied down to a deal for 2025.

Marko’s desire to turn RB back into Red Bull’s junior team puts additional pressure on Daniel Ricciardo.

The Australian may need to earn a promotion to replace Sergio Perez in order to stay on the grid beyond this year.

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Helmut Marko’s new Red Bull contract could be bad news for Daniel Ricciardo

Talking about Marko’s situation at Red Bull, Bach said: “You know what has changed as Helmut Marko has already said in the last few weeks that they have to make RB back to what it always was in the philosophy of what Dietrich Mateschitz wanted.

“His heir, by the way, he is trying to further shape it in a positive way.

“So, Ricciardo doesn’t fit into the concept because Daniel was Horner’s idea and that was just the assertion of power where Horner had sole control for a short time I would say, with the blessing of the Thai owners.

“With the shareholders, things are a little different now out of fear of losing Max, Marko has been given more power again and therefore more rights.

“He went on the offensive, and first said as an example, ‘OK, RB has to become a junior team again’.

“It’s just an example of the fact that they gave him more power.”

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Who could replace Daniel Ricciardo at RB?

Ricciardo may be in a position where he could either return to Red Bull or drop out of Formula 1 entirely after the Belgian GP.

Clauses in Perez’s contract allow him to be dropped during the summer break and given the pressure McLaren are putting on Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, that’s not completely out of the question.

Ricciardo is Perez’s most likely replacement if they make the change but he’s also without a contract for next year with Liam Lawson looming in the garage at every race.

Lawson must be assured of a seat by September before he’s allowed to explore options on the grid elsewhere.

With Marko desperate to make RB a junior team once again, Lawson seems assured of a place alongside Tsunoda next year.

That means the race in Spa could be a straight shootout between Perez and Ricciardo to secure their place on the grid.