Despite his consistent struggles at RB in 2024, Ricciardo emerged as a shock candidate to take over from Perez at Red Bull during the summer break, before team boss Christian Horner confirmed he had no plans to change his line-up.
Perez could follow Ricciardo 'out the door'
Perez - who recently signed a new deal with the team - has suffered an alarming drop-off in form, and has now gone 13 races without featuring on the podium.
He had looked on course to secure a morale-boosting top-three finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this month, but a dramatic late collision with Carlos Sainz ended his afternoon prematurely.
The 34-year-old hoped to build on that strong performance in Singapore, but finished 10th, eight places behind his team-mate Max Verstappen.
Speaking after the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, former Red Bull racer David Coulthard predicted Perez could suffer the same fate as Ricciardo should he fail to score big points over the final six grands prix of the year.
"He did brilliantly in Baku but again as they say, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and one good result is not what you expect from clearly the number two driver in that team," Coulthard told Channel 4.
"There was so much relief off the back of Baku and then here it’s a bit back to reality.
"If he doesn’t keep getting some solid points for the remainder of the year, then like Daniel Ricciardo, it looks like he’s on the way out of the door, that could be the same situation for Perez."