Despite this Red Bull have retained faith with Ricciardo, supported by team boss Christian Horner, and delivering a points finish in Canada.
However, with reserve driver Liam Lawson eager for a chance in F1, Ricciardo will have to consistently perform to keep his seat.
Will Lawson replace Ricciardo?
In a recent Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Ted Kravitz revealed that Red Bull’s link with Audi could impact their 2025 driver line-up.
The pundit suggested their relationship could lead to Lawson being installed at Sauber/Audi, which would ease the pressure on Ricciardo’s RB seat.
“There was the potential link up with Porsche, didn’t work out. That doesn’t mean that the Red Bull company does not still retain very good links with Audi, which they do,” Kravitz said.
“So I can see, after maybe having lost out on potentially Carlos Sainz, Christian Horner might go to Audi and say: ‘look, if you don’t want to keep Valtteri Bottas, how about Liam Lawson?”
Kravitz also touched on Ricciardo potentially moving to Audi, which seemed less likely than Lawson according to the presenter.
“Or indeed the reverse if they wanted to move Daniel Ricciardo on, but I’m not sure whether Ricciardo-Hulkenberg would be quite what Audi would want,” he said.
“I think the appeal of a young charger in Lawson, backed by Red Bull, with Red Bull’s grace and maybe giving them something to go in there and the experience of Hulkenberg might be up Audi’s street.”