Two weeks ago, following the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull's sister team, RB, made the decision to drop Daniel Ricciardo after months of speculations. His seat will be taken by Liam Lawson for the final six races of the 2024 season, with the possibility of securing a full-time spot as RB's second driver in 2025, depending on his performance.

Ricciardo has made several questionable career moves in F1. In 2018, he chose to leave Red Bull for Renault, despite having had successful years with the Austrian team. 

However, things didn’t go as planned at Renault, where he managed only two podiums in two years. He then moved to McLaren, but his stint there was also underwhelming, despite winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in Monza. His contract was eventually cut short, ending one year earlier after his second season.

At that point, it seemed his career might be over, but Red Bull brought him back. In 2023, he returned to racing with their sister team RB, replacing Nyck de Vries, however, as it came to light in Singapore, that didn’t end well too, very likely marking the end of the Australian’s career.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko discussed the issues with Ricciardo as according to him, despite being given a second chance—an opportunity he believes only Red Bull would have offered—Ricciardo failed to show he was the same driver he once was.

“Daniel Ricciardo’s departure was only announced after the race weekend in Singapore for compelling reasons relating to commercial agreements,” Marko wrote in his Speedweek column.

“He himself was informed in good time and – to put it in his own words – he is at peace with himself. I also think that the fastest race lap he set was a worthy farewell performance.

“He was given a second chance that nobody else would have given him. And this was done on the premise that a return to Red Bull Racing is possible if his performance is up to scratch. The Racing Bulls team was therefore only ever intended as a stopover.

“But the necessary performance only flashed up twice, once with a fourth place in the Miami sprint this year and last year in Mexico.

“But apart from that, the speed wasn’t there and the consistency wasn’t there either. The whole performance that would have justified a promotion to Red Bull Racing was missing. But that was the purpose of the whole thing.

“If we knew why the performance wasn’t up to scratch, then we would have done everything we could to change that. But the same killer instinct was simply no longer recognisable.

“He was famous for his uncompromising overtaking, for braking at the last point. But that was no longer the case either," he concluded.

Ricciardo’s future still remains uncertain with no signs of interest in other racing series or another possible shot in Formula 1. Red Bull has expressed a desire to offer Ricciardo another role in the team, but he is not interested in returning as team's reserve driver.