Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Ricciardo calls for change at Red Bull

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Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull has to make changes if it wants to be competitive again in Formula One next season.

Red Bull won three races last season but has slipped further back in the pecking order and has yet to even finish on the podium this year. Speaking to F1i during an exclusive interview, when asked how he has personally found the team's struggles this season, Ricciardo replied: “It’s tough.

"I’m definitely experiencing it now and fortunately I am a positive guy and I do get motivated pretty easily, but even for my level of positive I’ve been pretty down quite a few times this year. It’s not fun.

“We’ve got to start seeing some change, that’s it. We’re nearly half way through the year. Also last year we got some wins but we were nowhere near Mercedes the majority of the time so we can’t afford to slip back any further. We’ve got to start seeing some change otherwise I think something big has to happen and someone needs to step up and make it happen.

“I think I can make a bit more noise now. I feel like I need to as well. I know everyone’s not happy where we are but me as well, I’ve got a small window of success, an F1 career is not long. So I think I can speak up and try to push for a change if I feel there needs to be one. Obviously also the senior guys in terms of … there’s obviously contracts in place for some things but if you’re not making progress then I think you’ve got to try and push the envelope a little bit.

“It’s going to be a busy next one or two months. I think looking ahead to next year, we can’t continue like this. We’ll need a miracle to stay like this and all of a sudden fighting for the win again. We do need to make something happen.”

For the full interview with Daniel Ricciardo, click here

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.