Daniel Ricciardo is relieved to finally be getting his 2024 season on track.
Mere weeks ago, speculation was rife that Red Bull had lost patience with the Australian’s ongoing struggles and would be dropped by the junior RB squad mid-season.
"If there is a change in our team, there will probably be a big favourite and that is Liam (Lawson)," admitted RB CEO Peter Bayer, according to RTBF.
"Helmut (Marko) has been clear about this. He will not hesitate to put Liam (Lawson) in the seat to find out what he is worth in the long term."
Ricciardo, 34, looked disconsolate prior to China, where the team reluctantly agreed with his request to be assigned a fresh monocoque.
"Yes, sometimes racing cars are mysterious," he smiled to DAZN in Miami. "So far they haven’t found anything on the old chassis, but on paper, since we changed it, I’ve improved a lot.
"For now we are turning the season around and it feels good," added Ricciardo, who qualified an impressive fourth ahead of the Miami sprint race.
"They’ve also put a new floor on it and other improvements that are helping a lot," he said. "Hopefully is all helps to silence some critics."
Christian Horner, whose originally idea was to place Ricciardo at RB in 2024 ahead of a possible promotion to Red Bull Racing for 2025, said in Miami: "Daniel has regained his confidence and feels more and more comfortable in the car."
Ricciardo continued: "Apparently things are starting to change for me."
Also happier in Miami was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who qualified second behind Max Verstappen.
"The hard work I put in earlier in the season to try to get the tyres to work has now paid off. I’m glad about that, because there was so much talking," he said.
"In this sport, you perform poorly in qualifying twice in a row, and people start talking. It’s good that I was able to stop that today."