Helmut Marko, the man with a big say in who gets to drive for Red Bull, asserted Daniel Ricciardo has to show more performance very soon.
As Will Buxton said in the F1 Netflix series Drive to Survive, drivers join the RB team (formerly AlphaTauri) mainly because they hope it will get them a seat in Red Bull.
One seat in Red Bull Racing will be empty after the end of this season, and Helmut Marko already suggested that one of the RB drivers who wins in a head-to-head battle with his teammate could get the opportunity to drive for the Austrian team.
However, neither of the two has shown outstanding performances during the first two races of the 2024 season. One reason might be that their car is actually slower than everyone expected.
If the car is slow, it becomes much more challenging for drivers to show what they have. So far, Tsunoda has dealt with the situation better than Ricciardo. Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek.com:
"A word about the Racing Bulls. This season is very important for both Yuki and Daniel. Yuki's qualifying performance was very good, and Ricciardo now needs to come up with something soon."
Ricciardo was rumored to be the one Red Bull preferred out of the two RB drivers. However, he must deliver much more convincing performances and can't lose to his teammate to maximize his chances.
Otherwise, the 34-year-old might go from not having a seat in Red Bull to not having a seat at all. The 80-year-old continued:
"Where there's work to be done: At least in qualifying, Tsunoda is very good, then they race in the front in the world championship points during the first stint, only to fall back further and further afterwards."
It seems neither of the two drivers has impressed the Red Bull Racing advisory so far. He previously said he might want to make the decision around the summer break.
That means Ricciardo and Tsunoda still have some time to improve their performance and show they deserve the seat alongside Max Verstappen, but they need to do it as soon as possible. As to what the problem with RB car might be currently, Marko added:
"They can't maintain the speed in the long run. Whether they're overworking the tires or there are other reasons: That remains to be found out."
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