Ricciardo review pressure was ‘unnecessary’ – RB

RB team principal Laurent Mekies has admitted that Red Bull’s driver review stance can be “a bit unnecessary” by applying too much pressure.

Throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, speculation over Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 future swirled, gaining traction to the point that the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit is now widely believed to have been his last – at least for the foreseeable future.

The Red Bull teams are known to at times be ruthless with its driver pairings, with all racers centrally contracted and theoretically freely moveable between its main squad and its junior outfit, RB.

It is a system that has come to a head during 2024, with Sergio Perez and Ricciardo subject to near-constant rumours about their performances and what their lack of form might mean for their seats.

Mekies was quick to defend the approach, that is oftentimes considered cutthroat. However, he did concede that it has gone too far in the case of Ricciardo.

“There is nothing wrong with reviewing your drivers’ performance every few races, and I think we have perhaps been too public about it,” Mekies told SiriusXM.

“We have done it in the first part of the season, we have done it quite famously just before the summer break, I guess at some stage we have said we will see after Singapore as well to discuss.

“So it’s part of the game. Certainly sometimes you can see it’s probably going a bit too far in terms of pressure, above all for Daniel in that case.

“I think the first thought is for Daniel, because he has had a lot of that this season… Of course, these guys are high level athletes and they know how to deal with it but sometimes it’s a bit unnecessary.”