PALMER: This season was meant to be an audition for a Red Bull return, but is Ricciardo now under pressure at RB?

Four races into the year and it hasn’t been the start of the season Daniel Ricciardo hoped for, or indeed the season the Red Bull bosses had expected from the Aussie.

It wasn’t a light decision for them to replace Nyck de Vries halfway through 2023, but their intention was to find a viable option to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull if the Mexican driver were to have a dip in form. Signing Ricciardo was designed to keep Perez on his toes.