Daniel Ricciardo “the slight favourite” over Liam Lawson for 2025 RB F1 drive

Daniel Ricciardo has emerged as the “slight favourite” to remain at RB alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the 2025 F1 season.

Red Bull are still undecided on which driver will partner Ricciardo at RB.

On Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix, the team announced they had exercised an option in Tsunoda’s contract to keep him at the team for next year.

RB have two options in Ricciardo and Liam Lawson for 2025.

Ricciardo’s experience and marketability make him the favourite currently even though his on-track performances have been somewhat underwhelming.

The Australian has been out-performed by Tsunoda in 2024 across all metrics.

However, Ricciardo did enjoy a strong weekend in Canada as he qualified fifth before finishing eighth.

Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater believes Ricciardo is ahead of Lawson in the running to race for RB in 2025.

“Yuki Tsunoda has signed a contract extension to stay with Red Bull’s junior team in 2025,” Slater said.

“RB say Tsunoda’s shown enormous progress in announcing his extension, while Tsunoda says it’s a good feeling to have his future decided so early in the year.

“The Japanese driver has comprehensively outperformed Daniel Ricciardo this season, so it will be either Ricciardo or Liam Lawson in that other RB seat.

“I am hearing Ricciardo is maybe the slight favourite at the moment.”

All signs are currently pointing towards Ricciardo.

According to various reports, Ricciardo is “protected” by Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

With no pathway to Red Bull currently open following Sergio Perez’s renewal for the next two years, Ricciardo’s options are very limited outside of RB.

Lawson impressed during his short stand-in stint for the team when Ricciardo was injured in the middle of last year.