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Ricciardo is one of seven drivers without a point after the opening five races of the 2024 F1 season, with the last two races ending in retirement for the Australian.
In Japan, a racing incident on the opening lap saw the RB driver come together with Alex Albon to eliminate both on the spot.
Last weekend in China, Lance Stroll rammed the rear of Ricciardo’s car, damaging the eight-time race winner’s car and ending his race.
Frustratingly, the Chinese GP weekend saw an improved showing for Ricciardo.
He out-qualified Yuki Tsunoda for Sunday’s grand prix, and beat him on merit in Saturday’s Sprint.
Neither RB driver saw the flag in the race after Kevin Magnussen tagged the rear of Tsunoda’s car on Lap 30.
Up to the Chinese Grand Prix, the Japanese driver had an advantage over Ricciardo, especially over a single lap.
That brought some uncomfortable questions for the 34-year-old, including whether he’d sought reassurance that he’d see out the season with RB, as pressure to deliver ramped up.
“I haven’t,” he confessed when asked if he’d asked for reassurance of his position from RB.
“I’m obviously around the team every day. I would hear it from them, you know what I mean?
“I know that we’re not where we want to be but I think everything we keep going back to each other is like we’re still in this, we’re on the patch, we know what we’re doing.
“I haven’t had a great start to the season but I’m also not a rookie that’s trying to establish myself in the sport and prove something. I do have a track record. There is some proof there that I can do it.
“And the team believes this and knows I can, so it’s just trying to clean it all up and making sure we can get it.”
That process showed signs of improvement in China, especially on his one lap pace, though under the Safety Car Ricciardo was strategically compromised and would likely have ended the race down the order had he remained in it.
But it was another step in the right direction, as was set out in Japan before his opening lap retirement.
“I don’t want this to take a whole year and I don’t expect it to because, on the one hand I’m not a rookie, I’ve got experience, so that should also speak for something,” he explained.
“It’s not like I’m trying to show them something that they haven’t seen, we’re just trying to get me, I guess, in a place where I feel like I can deliver.
“There’s no additional pressure from ‘shit, am I going to have a seat next weekend’ or anything. It’s not anything like that.”
However, Ricciardo is aware of the fact that Red Bull runs a brutal programme.
His return came courtesy of the mid-season axing of Nyck de Vries, and with Liam Lawson waiting for an opportunity, the Australian knows what he’s up against.
“I’m also not naïve but I haven’t had any indication of that,” he said when asked if he’d contemplated the team dumping him mid-year.
“Again, it probably goes back to a little bit of maybe what I did in the past, but I think they know – even last year, I showed the signs of speed and everything that maybe I didn’t always show with McLaren.
“So we felt like we got that back out of me and okay, for whatever rason, it hasn’t quite been there to it’s fullest so far this year.
“But I think they know it’s there and also what we’re doing on the sim, they can see that it’s there, so we just now got to put it together.”
