Daniel Ricciardo remains committed to Red Bull dream as FIA unveils radical rule changes

Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of returning to the world championship-winning Red Bull machinery look increasingly unlikely but the Perth product insists he hasn’t given up.

It was no secret that Ricciardo had eyes on a return to the front of the grid in the Red Bull team that brought him seven race wins when returning to Formula One from a sixth-month hiatus last year.

But the man he was looking to replace, Sergio Perez, firmly shut the door on Ricciardo taking his spot after signing a two-year contract extension earlier this week, while the Australian has struggled to impress this season.

He has just five points to his name compared to teammate Yuki Tsunoda’s 19 with just one points-scoring finish, coming in a sprint race, this season.

“It doesn’t surprise me and it doesn’t change anything for me,” Ricciardo said in Montreal.

“Obviously, my goal… at some point I’d love to be back there. But I also know that my season hasn’t been spectacular.

“I had a spectacular moment in Miami but otherwise I’ve been a bit up and down and I’ve been doing this long enough and I know myself that I want to be doing better.

“Already after the first few races I was just focused on trying to do the most I can here. Through that, then I’ll have the most control over my future.”

However, as Ricciardo returns to the track that saw him claim his maiden F1 triumph back in 2014, the ‘honey badger’ says his goals remain the same.

“Up until now I probably haven’t been awesome enough but, equally, I am happy being here just being back in the Red Bull family. We’ll keep charging forward,” he said.

“I don’t think (Perez’s renewal) means that now it will never happen. We’ll see. If I’m [still] here next year, then I’ll be happy.

“The mindset hasn’t changed.”

Despite his indifferent form and Red Bull Academy product Liam Lawson itching to get a drive in F1, Ricciardo says he still has the full confidence of the team.

“I hold myself probably accountable for not doing anything too spectacular,” he said.

“Right now, I’m here… I need to do well and get some more points, and I’m happy doing that here.

“The team is doing a good job to help me out with that, so it’s just up to me.”

Ricciardo’s comments come as the sport unveiled radical regulation changes set to be introduced for the 2026 season.

While there’s a move for more battery power and the reintroduction of adjustable aerodynamics, something banned for more than 50 years, the biggest change will be the end of the off-maligned Drag Reduction System (DRS).

DRS was introduced in 2011 to help cars overtake and while it worked some claimed it was too powerful and also led to the creation of DRS trains with cars all in a line unable to make a move.

Now the FIA is set to scrap the system and adopt a push-to-pass system which is currently used in IndyCar called ‘manual override.’

“Right now with the DRS you are behind a car, within a second, [and] that ticks a box and you are allowed to open your DRS in a straight line,” FIA technical director Jan Monchaux said to ESPN.

“This will not be the case anymore, however, the logic will be the same: ‘I’m close enough to another car, I am given an extra amount of energy for that one lap, which I can deploy any way I want’.

“The extra amount of energy is defined, and that will give that boost of energy to eventually give the following car a chance to overtake by the end of the straight.”