Coming into the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sergio Pérez has faced big scrutiny over his poor slump in form that saw the Mexican scoring only 15 points over the last six rounds. The clauses in his contract means that the 34-year-old potentially has only two races to save his Red Bull career and to help the team defend their ever-shrinking lead in the Constructors’ Championship.
Many drivers are thought to be in Red Bull’s close tabs should they decide to show Pérez the door. Among them is Daniel Ricciardo, who races for Red Bull’s sister team RB. He drove for the senior team from 2014–2018, winning seven races and establishing himself as one of F1’s quickest drivers.
Despite being out-qualified by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda 9–3 and behind by him by nine points in the standings this season, Ricciardo remains a serious candidate for the second Red Bull seat following stronger performance across the triple-header and Canada.
The Australian was asked on Thursday about his thoughts on the pressure that mounts on Pérez.
“Look, I think there’s in many different, I guess it depends how we are spotlighted in the media. But the truth is every driver is under pressure.“
Ricciardo did not deny that even the best-performing drivers, such as Verstappen, remain under pressure to maintain their peak form.
“So my point is, we all feel it. Obviously, I’ve been in the spotlight a bit this year. Checo is in the spotlight, [too].
“Even after my good race in Montreal, I said, look, I need to do another good one because you’re only as good as your last race. And one good weekend doesn’t quite let you off the hook. So it temporarily does, but then it can quickly change.
“I know I’ve seen some statistics. Max [Verstappen] has scored a lot more points than Checo, and of course, yes, they are expecting a bit more. But yeah, this is the sport that we’re in. We feel it all the time.“
According to Ricciardo, there could be a new driver in the spotlight each week and it’s only the drivers themselves that can shut it down by consistently performing well.
“It’s just who is the spotlight of the week. And yeah, it’s up to us to obviously try to shut it out. And it’s not easy as well sometimes.“
Ricciardo himself is no stranger for these kinds of questions. He recalled how negative and heavy it is when everyone is asking the same ones.
During his tenure in McLaren, the 35-year-old faced a lot of questions after he struggled to match Lando Norris at most rounds across 2021 and 2022. It did take a toll.
Nonetheless, he argues that Pérez knows how to handle it as both started in F1 in 2011.
“You know, if everyone is just always asking you questions about, OK, you have this, you have that. And it feels sometimes very negative or can sometimes feel heavy. But yeah, I think in my experience, and I put Checo here as well, because he’s also been in one similar amount of time.
“We have dealt with it enough that I think you learn just to realise, focus on the engineering, focus on the car set-up and the rest. Yeah, you hear it, but you just have to just roll with it.
“Obviously, yes, it can be, it can feel relentless, you know.
“Obviously I experienced it a bit at McLaren. And yeah, of course, they’re not, those sessions, those media sessions, yeah, they’re not exactly enjoyable.
“But you have to accept that and try to then just deal with it. As I said, it’s part of it. I always try to be like the bigger person in terms of, yep, it’s what I signed up for.
“I’m trying to be the best in the world at something, and at times I’ll probably fall short and this is now what’s going to come with it.”
Ricciardo explained that the drivers need to accept what has happened and move on, even if the odds are stacked against them.
“It’s like you make your own bed and you just have to be OK laying in it, [even] sometimes if the sheets aren’t made. It’s a nice quote. I’ll copyright that.”
Ricciardo was then asked about his thoughts about the possibility of Red Bull deciding to pick someone like Liam Lawson over Tsunoda or himself should the Mexican be axed.
The driver from Perth says focusing on his own performance is the main thing, and it leads to getting opportunities if you perform well, as he knows from his previous history at Red Bull.
“I don’t know. I guess strange […] it depends who the stranger is.
“But, look, I think being in the Red Bull family, in this program, I’m not a junior anymore, but I know how it works, and it’s always result-driven.
“I think if we are doing good enough, then we put ourselves in the best seat, you know, in terms of if there is some movement, then we hold the power in our results.
“So yeah, I think it’s like always, there’s so many things happening in F1, but at the end of the day, it’s in our control, what we do behind the wheel and what the stopwatch says.
“So try to control the controllables, and I think in that situation, quite a lot is in our hands.”
