Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull F1 RETURN chance featured in new Drive to Survive season

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Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull RETURN chance featured in new Drive to Survive season

Daniel Ricciardo's chances of a Red Bull promotion has been revealed

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 8 March 2025 00:00

Daniel Ricciardo's chances of replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull last season have featured in the new series of Drive to Survive.

Season seven of the hit Netflix show dropped on Friday, one week ahead of the beginning of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, with fans having access to all 10 episodes instantly.

And, whilst neither Ricciardo nor Perez have a seat on the grid this year, the pair were the leading stars during an episode of the Netflix series’ seventh season, titled ‘Elbows Out’.

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Perez’s performance struggles were the focus of the episode, with a crash during qualifying at the British Grand Prix prompting Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to lament his driver's results and look towards replacing the star.

Sergio Perez was axed from Red Bull at the end of 2024

Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull return 'chance'

“If we carry on like this, we’re f***ed,” he said on the phone after Perez’s Q1 exit.

Later, when he returned to the garage, Horner began to discuss with members of the team who to bring in as a replacement.

“What are we gonna do with our Mexican? I’m starting to think it’s diminishing returns. This weekend, we have to look very carefully at the other drivers [Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, and Liam Lawson],” he added.

“I’m a big fan of Daniel. He’s not been competitive, but we know what he’s capable of. I think he can sniff that there’s a bit of a chance.”

Christian Horner intended to replace Sergio Perez with Daniel Ricciardo

The episode then switched to Ricciardo’s perspective during the British GP weekend, where he pounced on the potential opportunity to replace Perez.

“I just wasn’t sure how much they’ve made aware to the public that Checo was somewhat on the verge,” Ricciardo said to Red Bull’s director of communications, Paul Smith.

“What Christian’s been saying publicly is: the way that it’s been approached with Checo is through a lot of support, right?” Smith replied.

“As opposed to, we’re definitely f*** replacing Checo, he’s f***ed, DR is in [at Red Bull], Liam is in at VCARB…”

Ricciardo responded to this comment with: “Happy days!”

“So for you, I think Christian’s taking the time to see what happens here, he needs success,” Smith added.

However, Ricciardo endured yet another poor result at Silverstone, where he only finished P13 compared to his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda who secured a points finish in P10.

“We don’t have anybody else in the other car [VCARB] that is putting in performances that are like 'wow',” Horner said following Ricciardo's result, thus ending any chance of replacing Perez, who finished the 2024 British GP P17.

In a brutal twist, before the season was out, Ricciardo himself would go on to be replaced at VCARB.

Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo Christian Horner Sergio Perez Australian Grand Prix Drive to Survive