The Red Bull announces the 2025 driver lineup.

It certainly is a ridiculous season if, in March, the F1 media are speculating driver changes for next year. Yet a lot of variables have conspired to produce the unforeseen situation where 13 of the current drivers are out of contract at the end of this year.

Add to that what would recently have been called a ‘top seat’ is available at Mercedes following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to transfer to Maranello in 2025. And to top it off, we then have Max Verstappen indicating he could leave the Red Bull team if Dr. Helmut Marko was ousted against his will.

This was met with a forceful rebuttal from Christian Horner, who reminded his star driver that Red Bull F1 will not hold anyone to a contract against their will and that “no one is bigger than the team.”

Of course, the news of Max quitting Red Bull would overshadow even Lewis Hamilton’s choice to drive in red next season and leave the Mercedes family where he has spent his whole F1 career. If the Dutch driver were to retire, it would mean all four Red Bull and V-CARB drivers would be up for a change in 2025.

Despite the different sagas dominating F1 headlines, there is a rising emphasis and pressure coming upon Daniel Ricciardo, who was anticipated to beat his Japanese teammate and become the natural successor to Sergio Pérez. Yet with each passing race, the Australian is looking as though he is still battling to regain the form that saw him win eight Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver grim reaper, Dr. Helmut Marko, informed Daniel in Australia that his performances needed to improve. “There is a lot at stake this season for both Yuki and Daniel. Yuki’s qualifying was extremely impressive, and Ricciardo will have to come up with something soon,” Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek before cars hit the track in Melbourne.

Then, as the weekend continued, New Zealand media reported that Ricciardo had been given a two-race ultimatum by Marko to either improve or ship out. However, the 81-year-old Austrian feels reports have become muddled regarding the temporary sidelining of Ricciardo at Suzuka so that Japanese junior Ayumu Iwasa can drive in the Australian’s RB vehicle in Friday practice for the Japanese GP.

The F1 teams are mandated to offer two FP1 practice sessions a year to a ‘young driver’, and each of its permanent drivers must sit out for at least one session a season.

Iwasa was fourth in the 2023 F2 season, and like Liam Lawson before him, he is now driving this year in the Japanese Super Formula series, where the cars are even closer to those seen in F1. Its only logical for Red Bull to blood one of their junior drivers at his home race next time out in Japan.

Marko believes the ’dropping’ of Ricciardo for FP1 in Japan has produced a narrative that is unduly overblown. That said, Marko makes it apparent that Daniel is not doing enough to grab a possible vacant spot in a Red Bull car but refutes that he has two races left to save his career.

“The decision on the [driver] lineup for next year has been postponed until the summer. But Tsunoda needs improve considerably more if he can be considered,” says Marko.

“Every driver sees the other’s data,” Marko explained, “so there are no secrets. They have the same automobile. Everything is the same. Daniel has demonstrated in the past that he is a quick driver; therefore, it is something mental. A mental problem.” Ricciardo rejected this fact in Australia, adding, “My head is not full of nonsense or anything like that.”

Yet despite the Red Bull driver lineup announcement being postponed, a number of Red Bull sources feel Sergio Pérez has done enough to assure that, in reality, he will receive another drive at Red Bull beyond this season. Mexican sponsors are reported to have been involved in the debate.