The 2024 season saw plenty of change on the grid ahead of one of the craziest driver markets in recent Formula 1 memory.
Unsurprisingly, Red Bull and RB were caught in the middle of the movements and happening and there’s still uncertainty over their line-ups for 2025.
The other remaining empty seat for next season is alongside Yuki Tsunoda but it’s not quite as straightforward as that.
Sergio Perez is under immense pressure and if Red Bull decide to cancel his contract for next season, then another reshuffle is on the cards.
RB have already made one driver change this year, bringing in Liam Lawson to replace Daniel Ricciardo, and Lawson could end up in Perez’s seat by the time the 2025 season begins.
Ricciardo himself was a mid-season replacement in 2023 – stepping into Nyck de Vries’ car – before suffering a hand injury and never truly rediscovering the raw pace that made him Max Verstappen’s toughest teammate.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, world champion Nico Rosberg has been left questioning why some drivers suddenly experience a dip in form.
He compared what happened to Ricciardo this season to the downturns Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen experienced during their careers.
Nico Rosberg suggests Daniel Ricciardo suffered same downturn as Sebastian Vettel
Talking about their various struggles, Rosberg said: “In the case of Kimi [Raikkonen], he lost his one-lap pace, I mean, 15 years ago.
“He lost it in 2009 already, right after his World Championship title, which is really weird in his case.
“It’s not something I ever understood because Kimi was considered the greatest driver of the time.
“He won the World Championship with Ferrari and then the one-lap pace kind of disappeared somehow, I don’t know.
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“So that was a strange, strange case. And we’ve seen a couple of those examples now.
“We saw Sebastian Vettel also at Ferrari suddenly just being beaten by Charles Leclerc, who came in and Vettel’s pace was just in decline, more mistakes coming in.
“We see it with Daniel Ricciardo as well, because Daniel was on par with Verstappen in their prime at Red Bull.
“I mean, they were really there and then it just kind of drifted away from there. It was the pace also. It was a very strange one.”
Will Daniel Ricciardo ever return to Formula 1?
Ricciardo was dismissed by RB after the Singapore Grand Prix, six races before the end of the season.
He finished the season with 12 points, outscoring two drivers (Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas) who completed the entire campaign and finishing level with Alex Albon.
However, Yuki Tsunoda had nearly doubled his tally before he was replaced by Lawson and the Japanese driver earned a test in a Red Bull as a result of his performances alongside pressure from primary sponsors Honda.
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Ricciardo has been linked with driving for Toyota who have recently signed a deal to work alongside Haas’ F1 team.
While they’re unlikely to start having an immediate say in who drives for Ayao Komatsu’s team, if they can get a move for Ricciardo over the line, then he suddenly moves one step closer to a return to the grid.
That’s without mentioning the imminent arrival of Cadillac and Ricciardo’s popularity in the United States could put him in the frame for one of their two race seats.
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