Daniel Ricciardo’s Canadian finish among Red Bull 2024 season highlights as questions remain over F1 future

Days after Daniel Ricciardo revealed said he was “done” with Formula One, he has received praise for his performance during the 2024 season for Red Bull which is yet to confirm who will drive for it in 2025.

In an analysis piece on the official F1 website Ricciardo’s eighth-placed finish at the Canada Grand Prix and his fourth-placed finish during the Miami GP Sprint was noted as highlights of the season for Red Bull.

Ricciardo, who was dumped by Red Bull late in the season after the Singapore Grand Prix, battled through a five-second penalty for a false-start in Montreal to secure his best finish of the year.

The Aussie star also fared quite well against his teammate Yuki Tsunonda before being axed for Liam Lawson with the Japanese driver clamming their head-to-head race finishes 13-8.

Tsunonda had Red Bull’s best finish of the year of seventh which he secured in Melbourne, Miami and San Paulo.

Tsunonda beat Ricciardo 12-6 in qualifying but then dominated Lawson 6-0 in qualifying in the final stages of the season.

F1 writer Mike Seymour said Ricciardo’s poorly thought out exit was a low light of the year for Red Bull.

“While Ricciardo’s impending departure felt inevitable by the time the Singapore Grand Prix rolled around, with so much talk in the press leading up to the event, Red Bull and RB chiefs stayed silent on the potential for a change until a couple of days after the chequered flag,” he wrote.

“It meant one of the bubbliest, friendliest characters in the F1 paddock was denied the send-off he deserved, with (Laurent) Mekies (Red Bull team principal) subsequently admitting that he was “not happy” about the situation and ‘we should have done a better job’.”

The make-up of Red Bull’s second team for 2025 remains up in the air with only Tsunonda confirmed.

He and Lawson could be promoted to Red Bull’s primary team to drive alongside defending champion Mx Verstappen with Sergio Perez’s place in serious jeopardy following a poor season.

If Red Bull decides to sack a second big-name driver in six months then F2 runner-up Iscak Hadjar could get an F1 debut.

Ricciardo has been linked with Cadillac’s new team for the 2026 season as well as Toyota, who are set to enter the Supercars in Australia 2026, and have 10 Indycar teams.

Toyota may be preparing a “blank cheque offer” starting at as much as $10 million to lure the lovable sports star to their cause.

When asked at the weekend by a fan if he would be interested in joining his seventh F1 team the eight-time race winner was direct.

“Nah, I’m done,” Ricciardo said.

But as he continues to generate headlines wherever he goes, the racing world may not be done with Ricciardo.