Red Bull chief Helmut Marko offers Daniel Ricciardo a hand around the shoulder after another challenging race

Daniel Ricciardo did not enjoy a strong weekend in Australia, posting consistently slower times than teammate Yuki Tsunoda. In the opening three rounds of 2024, the Japanese driver has performed consistently better than his more experienced teammate.

This is a worrying trend for Ricciardo, whose future in Formula 1 is dependent on asserting himself as the best driver at RB. After all, the 24-year-old returned to the Faenza-based team to catapult himself into the vacant 2025 Red Bull seat.

Over the past eight months, Red Bull's senior personnel have been very positive in their comments about the Australian. Generally speaking, the reigning Champions have been optimistic about his chances of progressing.

However, following another underwhelming weekend in Albert Park, Helmut Marko's comments indicate a very different outlook:

"He's struggling, we'll have to see," he told Sky Germany.

"There were some good signs in the Bahrain test, but the last few races haven't been going too well."

These quotes are certainly more lenient than what we expect from the Red Bull advisor, with the 80-year-old giving Ricciardo the benefit of the doubt.

Concerns that Daniel Ricciardo is not comfortable in VCARB 01

In his two years with McLaren, he spoke quite consistently about his disconnect with the Woking-produced machines. Despite significant set-up work and constant tweaks, this issue was never fully resolved.

A failure to understand the behaviors of his two McLaren cars was central to his time with the British team. With that said, these struggles will be looked upon in an increasingly unfavorable light over time.

After all, the 2021 and 2022 papaya machines were from two completely different generations of Formula 1. This year's RB machine is also a package with few similarities to those the Australian has driven previously.

However, Helmut Marko believes the 8-time race winner is struggling to adapt:

"I think Ricciardo needs a safe and confident car. I hope the team can give him that, so he can at least be on par with Yuki."

Unfortunately for Ricciardo, there is no shortage of drivers available in F1's 2024 free agency. Therefore, he stands little chance of making a convincing case for himself unless results improve drastically and quickly.

To make matters worse, the bottom five teams will be keeping their fingers crossed that the top teams make unforced errors, otherwise top-10 finishes can become very unattainable.