Daniel Ricciardo finished outsi🐎de of the points at the F1 Dutch Grand Prix, as his fight to save his c♔areer continued.

He finished 12th at Zandvoort, five places ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda as RB’s split strategies left th💛eir drivers in dirty air for much of the race.

It was the s⛎ort of sub-par result that Ricciardo wanted to avoid wi🐓th his F1 future uncertain, and no contract yet on the table for 2025.

“In this midfield, when a car is working on a particular circuit, you can make such a 🌺big jump,” he assessed in Zandvoort.

“Our bal🔯ance [during the race] felt points-worthy, but there were just some cars and drivers that were operating at a higher level. We have to just ac♛cept that sometimes.

“I’m happier today with the big picture.

“It’s hard to dissect someth🦄ing so soon after qualifying, especially when it doesn’t go well. I think deep down I was just frustrated and🅰 disappointed in myself more than anything.

“Yes, in hindsight we co൲uld’ve done a f༺ew things on the car to help, but at the end of the day we also have to manage a tricky car at times.

“I was just disappointed in myself not to handle tha💧t better and as I said yesterday, in Q1 if you’re out, it♔’s over. You don’t get many second chances.”

Tsunoda a🅘dded: “When we pitted, the lap we pitted on, every꧑thing was too late.

“When I was rejo♍ining the track I was always behind cars and just always stuck in the dirty air.

“To be honest, I don’t think we executed anything from our car. I’m not bl🎉aming anything on strategy but the timing of when we did it was completely wrong.

“Qualifying was alright and we were lucky on pace as well, but I think I maximised what ꩲwꦏe can do with our car. To be honest, the race was far away from the place we wanted.

“I at least wanted to achieve something, but at the end of this race we d☂idn’t take anything, so it was pretty tough.”

Will Ricciardo be axed from F1?

A week ago, Helmut Marko’s comments that Liam Lawson would be guaranteed a 2025 race seat with one of their teams (Red Bull👍ꦺ or RB) caused a stir.

Ricciardo was♍ the only driver from either team without a contract so his days looked to be numbered.

But Christian Horner clarified Ma✅rko’s stance - insisting Lawson would get a drive on the F1 grid, not necessarily with Red Bull or RB.

Nevertheless for Riccᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚiardo, it was a reminder of how harsh the Red Bull environment can be for an underperforming driver.

There are🍌 just three seats still vacant for next year’s grid - Ricciardo’s RB, one Sauber and a Mer💫cedes which is destined for Kimi Antonelli.

This we▨ekend at the F1 Italian Grand Prix - the scene of his most recent race win in 2021 - Ricciardo will target the eye-catching performance which eluded him at Zandvoort.