Mekies confirms that "this may have been Ricciardo's last race" with Racing Bulls

This time there is little doubt that Daniel Ricciardo has certainly experienced his last race with Racing Bulls, if not in Formula 1. Throughout the weekend, the Australian remained evasive about his short-term future with the Italian team, while acknowledging some "deadlines" in his contract that came up between the Singapore and United States Grands Prix. As the Singapore round came to a close, Tears of the eight-time Grand Prix winner in the mixed zone already betrayed the outcome of his season, he who could be quickly replaced by Liam Lawson from Austin.

And to make matters worse, Laurent Mekies himself has confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo has probably contested his last Grand Prix with Racing Bulls, with a dismal 18th (and last) place at the finish on the Marina Bay circuit. According to the French manager, the team offered him the opportunity at the end of the race to set the fastest lap as a "farewell gift", even if it also suited the needs of Red Bull et Max Verstappen in the championship (Lando Norris then had the point for fastest lap before Daniel Ricciardo took it back on the penultimate lap).

“Given that this was possibly Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savour it and come out with the fastest lap, specifies the Team Principal of Racing Bulls. We now have a few weeks left to prepare our final effort for the final part of the championship and the next two triple headers. The competition is tighter than ever and we will give our best."

Racing Bulls' 6th place in danger

More generally, in Singapore, Racing Bulls suffered despite a promising start to the weekend. Eliminated before Q3, neither Yuki tsunoda nor Daniel Ricciardo have been able to move up the hierarchy, despite shifting strategies. "It's a better overall performance than in the last races, but it's not enough to score points., regrets Laurent Mekies. Unfortunately, Yuki lost three places on the start line and from there it was very difficult to overtake. Our starts have not been good enough this season and that is something we are working very hard to improve. In a tight field like ours, it makes the difference between points or not."

“On the positive side, Yuki had a very good last stint on the soft tyre, it was a bold decision to put him on the soft tyre for so many laps but it worked and gave us a good pace advantage, even if it wasn’t enough to get back into the points., he emphasizes. Starting from further back, we really needed a safety car to allow Daniel to get back into the fight for points. Daniel adopted an aggressive strategy starting on the Softs and put in some very good laps throughout the race, but he had no chance of getting back into the good positions starting from so far back. He never gave up and fought throughout the race.”

Racing Bulls has therefore had a fourth weekend without scoring any points in Singapore. Its sixth place in the Constructors' Championship is more than threatened by Haas who, thanks to the two points scored by Nico Hulkenberg this weekend, is just three points behind the Italian team. Will replacing Daniel Ricciardo with Liam Lawson at the next round in Austin be the solution?

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