Ex-Formula 1 team manager turned journalist Peter Windsor has warned Daniel Ricciardo that he could drop out of the sport for good if he fails to beat team-mate Yuki Tsunoda this season.
The rebranded VCARB team brought the Australian in for the underperforming Nyck de Vries ten races into the 2023 season, and he impressed in parts - despite missing a further five races with a broken hand.
However, both drivers have only been put on a deal that will last until the end of the upcoming season, meaning they will need to impress if they hope to stay in a full-time F1 seat in 2025.
Ricciardo has already felt what it's like to be booted out of the sport, having been released from his McLaren contract back in 2022, with no obvious choice to jump straight back into a full-time seat.
That opportunity did however arrive for the Australian due to the poor performances of Nyck de Vries in the early part of 2023, forcing the Faenza-based team to call on the services of the then-Red Bull reserve driver, and Riccardo has taken his chance with both hands.
Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will take the Faenza-based team into the new eraPeter Windsor is a well-known face around the F1 paddockLiam Lawson produced some fabulous performances while deputising for Daniel Ricciardo
VisaCashApp RB driver lineup
Despite this, Windsor believes that both Ricciardo and Tsunoda could be in trouble, with the driver market set to hot up ahead of 2025, and has warned of an important team-mate battle between the pair.
“I’m interested in the Daniel Riccardo-Yuki Tsonoda square-off,” he told the Cameron F1 podcast.
“This is effectively, if Yuki doesn’t blow Daniel away, I’d say his career’s probably gone, and equally if Daniel doesn’t blow Yuki away, his career’s probably gone.
“So there’s a lot riding on those two. I think that car will probably be quite good,” he continued.
“Not because Christian Horner is playing a larger role with what’s it called? Visa Cash App whatever. He’s bridging towards that other team a little bit.
“But because there’s some good people at AlphaTauri, if we can still call them that, and there’s a lot of technology there that they should be getting.
"So you know, I can’t imagine that car’s going to be slow so that’s one thing I’m looking forward to seeing that squaring off between the two drivers there.”
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