The Australian is looking to kickstart his 2024 season in China this weekend after our difficult races to start the year.

Prior to Sprint Qualifying in Shanghai yesterday, he’d been beaten by his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in every qualifying session of the year.

The Japanese driver has beaten him three out of four races too, the exception being when team orders benefitted Ricciardo in Bahrain.

Ricciardo’s current form slump has led to speculation about his future with outlandish claims that he could be dumped ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.

“Everybody in the team is shutting that down. The black and white is that I have a contract,” Ricciardo told the Press Association.

“However, I have to earn my spot. I don’t want these results to continue for a year, and for me to say: ‘well I should be here because it is on paper’. I am not going to be happy with that.

“At the end of the day, if I am getting my arse whooped, I don’t deserve to be here.”

Ricciardo has shown hints of his ability this year but has been unable to string it together into a race result.

In Bahrain he was on par in the race with Tsunoda while a slow pit stop in Saudi Arabia left him at the back of the pack. He then spun on his own on the penultimate lap.

Track limits cost him in qualifying in Australia and compromised his race from the outset before crashing out on the opening lap of the Japanese Grand Prix.

China has been a happy hunting ground in the past. He won in Shanghai in 2018 and kicked his time with Renault into gear at the circuit a year later.

He’s hoping for the same this time around, knowing there’s arguably now more at stake.

“I want to get back to a place where I know I can be, and I feel confident I can get there,” he said.

“I am aware I have to get the results. But from my side, I am not a rookie trying to prove something or to establish myself. I do have a history in this sport. I do have a track record that says I can win.

“But if we get to December and I have not been able to extract that then maybe I will be like, ‘fine I am done with this’ or ‘I am not good enough’, but I certainly don’t feel like that in my heart.”

Ricciardo has the support of Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner, who offered the Australian a deal after McLaren paid out the final year of his contract after a difficult two-year stint in Woking.

That saw him become third driver at Red Bull Racing, a role he took on while he worked on rebuilding his shattered confidence.

Having gone through that process, Ricciardo feels he’s not heading down the same rabbit hole this time.

“I went through this at McLaren and I bought into the noise because I ended up losing the belief,” he admitted.

“I would question myself: ‘Fuck, maybe I have lost that edge? Maybe I can’t do it anymore?’

“But now I sit here in a different place because I do feel rejuvenated. That is why it is frustrating because in my head it makes no sense.

“If I do well here and in Miami, all of a sudden it is forgotten about.

“I don’t get caught up in it, but deep down, I know I have to do better.”

Ricciardo has set a return to Red Bull Racing as one of its race drivers as the target of his F1 comeback, with Horner not ruling him out of contention for the drive next year but acknowledging the 34-year-old needs to improve.

Contracted to Red Bull Racing and on loan to RB, Ricciardo has said he would be happy to remain with the Italian squad for 2025.