Red Bull driver's shock retirement plans could save Daniel Ricciardo's career: Reports

As per reports, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez is contemplating leaving F1, which might save Daniel Ricciardo's career. The Aussie driver might have arguably driven his final race in the sport at the recently concluded 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, where he finished P18 and took the fastest lap.

There was an air of uncertainty regarding Ricciardo's future heading into the weekend as reports suggested that Liam Lawson might replace him for the remainder of 2024. However, neither RB nor Red Bull confirmed the reports and did not deny them as well.

But F1 pundit Allard Kalff, who appeared on Viaplay’s In de Slipstream, claimed that Red Bull needed to retain the services of the eight-team race winner as he believed Perez might be on his way out of the sport. He hinted that there might be an opening to partner Max Verstappen in Red Bull. He reported, via PlanetF1:

“There is a story that Sergio Perez would like to stop driving Formula 1 and even stop car racing. It’s hard to say that things are going great for him. Maybe he’s broken."

“You could say we put Lawson or [Yuki] Tsunoda in it, but then you also need Ricciardo. You have to let someone drive or you have to go all the way to the young talents. Something like that could also happen.”

Red Bull team boss gives his take on Daniel Ricciardo's future

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that they needed to assess their driver lineup situation in the three-week autumn gap ahead of the US Grand Prix in Texas in late October.

Speaking with Sky Sports, the Brit shared that the Milton-Keynes were focusing on the bigger picture and not just Ricciardo's immediate future with them. He said:

“Daniel’s had a reasonable season, but it hasn’t been a stellar year. Now, the question is, how good is Liam? And sometimes difficult decisions have to be made in order to get those answers."

He added:

"Well, look, these things are under constant review. There is obviously a much bigger picture other than just Daniel as we continue to look at all of our options as we move forward. Now there’s a natural break coming with effectively almost a month’s gap to the next race, so it’s only natural that you’ll take stock and consider all of those options for the final part of the year.”

Liam Lawson had impressed everyone with his short-stint in F1 replacing Daniel Ricciardo for five races last year owing to the latter's hand injury. The Austrian team had to decide on Lawson, regarding his future with the team, by the end of September as per his contract or risk losing him to another team.