Nyck de Vries, the Formula-E world champion who was anticipated to be the underdog of the 2023 Formula 1 season, has instead endured a horror start to his rookie campaign. Nearly halfway into the season, de Vries is still seeking his first championship points for AlphaTauri. However, if anyone’s reaping rewards from the Dutchman’s unpleasant stint, it’s Red Bull stand-by driver Daniel Ricciardo.
After unsatisfactory expeditions with Renault and McLaren, Ricciardo finally returned home to Red Bull Racing ahead of the 2023 season, but as a reserve driver. Since then, Ricciardo’s goal has been quite evident – making a sensational resurgence as a full-time Red Bull driver alongside Max Verstappen.
⚠️| According to ESPN, Daniel Ricciardo might even not be on a shortlist for Red Bull, which is why a year at AlphaTauri is essential.
It is believed that Ricciardo has dropped all plans to race for other teams because he does not want to pass up the chance to compete for RB. pic.twitter.com/H70Xl0Fiae
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) July 10, 2023
Unfortunately, citing recent developments, it seemed like Ricciardo might have to jump a big hurdle to re-claim his long-lost dream. Several reports claimed the Milton Keynes outfit is planning to replace de Vries with Ricciardo halfway through the season to assess the Australian’s racing capacity before taking a call on Perez’s future at Red Bull.
Daniel Ricciardo responds to AlphaTauri F1 rumors
After weeks of silence, Riccardo responded to the rumor that claimed he might move to AlphaTauri following the summer break. Despite acknowledging his readiness to go racing again, the Australian remained tight-lipped about the possibility of joining the sister Red Bull outfit.
“Never know, never know…,” he reportedly told SpeedCity Broadcast when asked about his possible AlphaTauri switch mid-season. “So I’m staying ready. I sat on the couch for two months over Christmas but since then I’ve been getting back into my training and enjoying it.”
Furthermore, Ricciardo openly admitted that he had been missing the chaos that usually comes with each race weekend. “Yeah of course (I miss it), this is my favorite part of the race weekend – the build-up part to the race. When you’re about 10-15 minutes out, it’s really awesome, and the grid gets packed, it’s a bit of a zoo and it’s chaos but it’s kind of a fun chaos.”
“So I do miss it, but it’s all good. I’m letting it all happen as it comes and I have confidence I’ll be back on the grid at some point. Obviously, I’m not 100% sure of it, but I’m confident it will happen again one day,” he concluded.
Overall, Red Bull isn’t too keen on replacing Perez with one of their juniors which naturally makes Ricciardo their primary choice. But, after the underperforming years at McLaren and Renault, can Ricciardo win Red Bull’s trust and recreate join hands with Verstappen to complete a deadly driver combination for 2024? Let’s see what the future holds in store.