Formula 1: Daniel Ricciardo’s final hope at Red Bull Racing?

Three Formula 1 races remain on the schedule for Daniel Ricciardo as a Red Bull Racing driver. Is the Mexican Grand Prix his final hope to earn a victory?

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo sent shock waves through the Formula 1 world on Friday, August 3 when he announced that he would not be returning to the Milton Keynes-based team in the 2019 season and instead would be replacing Carlos Sainz Jr. at Renault Sport.

Red Bull Racing are one of the three teams that have combined to win each of the 115 races that have been contested since 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen won the 2013 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, in his second and final season driving for Lotus.

Aside of Red Bull Racing, the only two teams that have won any races since then are Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport and Scuderia Ferrari.

Meanwhile, Renault have not won a race since two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, who won his two championships driving for the team in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, won the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix more than 10 years ago.

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This caused many fans to question why Ricciardo would leave Red Bull Racing. Even with the reliability issues that have plagued his season, he has still earned two victories so far in 2018. Meanwhile, at Renault, he will be lucky to finish a single race on the podium. Renault’s most recent podium finish came when Nick Heidfeld finished in third place in the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

As referenced above, Ricciardo, whose seven victories over the course of his Formula 1 career, which began in 2011, have all come since he began driving for Red Bull Racing in the 2014 season, has earned two victories so far this season. He won the Chinese Grand Prix in mid-April and the Monaco Grand Prix in late May.

But with only three races remaining on the 2018 schedule and thus before he is slated to become a Renault driver, fans have questioned whether or not the 29-year-old Australian will ever win another race as a Red Bull Racing driver.

The answer to that question may be determined this weekend, as the Mexican Grand Prix may be his final hope to do so.

Ricciardo has never won the Mexican Grand Prix nor either of the other two races remaining on the 2018 schedule, which are the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, Red Bull Racing’s dominance in last year’s Mexican Grand Prix and their dominance in the first two free practice sessions for this year’s Mexican Grand Prix make it very possible that Ricciardo could end up back on the top step of the podium before he officially becomes a Renault driver.

Max Verstappen started last year’s Mexican Grand Prix in second place, took the lead on lap one and went on to lead all 71 of its laps en route to a 19.678-second victory over Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in second. Ricciardo, however, was forced to retire after completing only five laps as a result of a mechanical failure.

To kick off this race weekend, Verstappen and Ricciardo finished in first and second place, respectively, in both the first and second free practice sessions. Red Bull Racing appear to be the team to beat this weekend. At this point, the main question appears to be whether or not Ricciardo will be able to hold off the 21-year-old Dutchman.

If not, we may very well have seen Ricciardo earn his final victory as a Red Bull Racing driver. While there is certainly always a chance that he could pull off an upset victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix and/or the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it’s no secret that the Mexican Grand Prix is the race that will give him the best chance to “lick the stamp and send it” en route to performing his signature “shoey” after earning what would be his eighth career Formula 1 victory.

Is the Mexican Grand Prix the final hope for Daniel Ricciardo to secure a Formula 1 victory as a Red Bull Racing driver? Will he end the weekend on top of the podium like he was five months ago following his dominant performance in the Monaco Grand Prix? Tune in to ABC on Sunday, October 28 at 3:10 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the race from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico to find out.