Daniel Ricciardo may still have a few options up his sleeve to keep his F1 career alive even if he’s moved on from Red Bull at the end of the season.
Despite the fact there’s only three seats unconfirmed for next season, including his own, the 35-year-old could be set for his fifth F1 team if he’s cut loose by Red Bull.
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While the Mercedes seat left vacant by Lewis Hamilton is expected to be filled by Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli, it doesn’t leave many options.
A report by German publication Auto Motor und Sport has linked Ricciardo to the empty seat at Kick Sauber, which is set to become Audi ahead of the 2026 season.
The team will not carry their current driver line up into next season, with Nico Hulkenberg already signed to the team, while Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu remain unsigned, although neither are considered likely to retain their position.
The Auto Motor und Sport report claims Ricciardo or Sergio Perez could fill the other seat if Red Bull releases either one of them at the end of the season, while they’re also keeping an eye on Liam Lawson.
Perez and Hulkenberg were former teammates at Force India for three seasons from 2014 before it became Aston Martin, helping the team to fourth in the constructors championship in 2016.
Ricciardo was also teammates with Hulkenberg for a season at Renault in 2019.
Audi are also said to be watching Lawson with a reported clause in his contract to allow the New Zealander to leave Red Bull if he’s not promoted to an F1 seat for 2025.
Another intriguing development is the success of Red Bull junior driver Isack Hadjar, who is currently leading Formula 2 by 36 points. If he wins the title, he is unable to stay in the championship and would be eyeing a seat in F1.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou is also considered an outsider for a seat.
The Red Bull situation has been one of the most interesting of the season with Perez surviving a mid-season axe despite a deplorable record in 2024.
Planet F1 reported that there was a clause in Perez’s contract should he fall over 100 points behind teammate Max Verstappen at the summer break — currently the Mexican is 146 points behind.
Ricciardo had been considered a red hot chance to return to the constructor championship leaders after he was spotted chatting with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner in Belgium.
It leaves Ricciardo in a difficult position with Lawson, and now Hadjar, waiting in the wings for a chance in the F1.
Earlier in the year, Ricciardo was given the task of blowing away teammate Yuki Tsunoda to force Red Bull’s hand but up until the Canadian Grand Prix, the Japanese star was well on top.
Over the entire season, Tsunoda leads on points (22-12), qualifying (9-5) and in races (8-5, with one race where both were DNF).
But since Canada, the Ricciardo of old has returned with the Aussie starting to turn the tide, claiming seven points to three and having had a 4-2 lead in both qualifying and in races.
However, it was too little too late for Ricciardo, with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko giving the Aussie the bitter reality check.
“Daniel was put in the car and if he would have been significantly faster than Yuki there was an idea to bring him back to Red Bull Racing,” Marko told ESPN.
“But he also had this up and down. So, so far, he didn’t fulfil the criteria to be a Red Bull Racing driver.”
While it doesn’t slam the door completely shut if Ricciardo impressed during the second half of the season, it does make it clear that he’s driving for his career over 10 races still to come.
Marko also suggested earlier in the season that as VCARB was the Red Bull “junior team”, shareholders were pushing for a change to return the team to developing young drivers.
“We will have to put a young driver in there soon — that would be Liam Lawson,” Marko said at the time.
What it sets up is a dramatic finish to the season over the final 10 races.
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