Daniel Ricciardo had his glory days in Red Bull Racing where he served as a driver between 2014 to 2018. He brilliantly took the second spot on his debut with the team after Lewis Hamilton. His downfall originated when he left the team for Renault where he hit his rock-bottom and failed to hit above the 4th position the entire time. After switching a few teams, which included McLaren, he came back to Red Bull as their reserve driver for the 2023 season until he was signed up by AlphaTauri.
Former race engineer for Ricciardo, Simon Rennie, revealed his outlook on the Australian’s comeback to Red Bull in a recent podcast. This Daniel, according to Rennie, seems dubious and “hollow” in many ways. Rennie stated, “Knowing Daniel, when he came back how he was and I didn’t say this to you at the time. Because obviously you’d had good success with us and you’ve had the last couple years which haven’t been quite as successful and it didn’t necessarily click straightaway in the simulator.”
🗣️ | Simon Rennie, former engineer of Ricciardo and now Leader of Simulation Engineering on first days working in sim with Ricciardo
“When he first came back I was quite surprised. Knowing Daniel, when he came back – I didn’t say this at the time – that he was almost like…… pic.twitter.com/vKqrlTGhVj
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) September 6, 2023
The engineer added to his statement, “The confidence from then snowballed and you built, and built, and built, and then by the end of that day, or the next day, you felt like, ‘yeah, he’s back again’.” Ricciardo eventually came to an understanding that his time with McLaren wasn’t the turning point of his career and that he hadn’t been functioning at his best at that time.
When will Daniel Ricciardo return to F1 amid recent injury?
The Australian driver is now in control of an AlphaTauri Formula 1 car as a replacement for Nyck de Vries. Nevertheless, he is making progress towards recovery after suffering a hand injury in a race in Zandvoort. He has been temporarily excluded from the forthcoming races while he diligently strives to rebuild his strength and form as a consequence of this loss. Nevertheless, as per Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, it is highly unlikely for the driver to be back for the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.
Marko on Liam Lawson’s future:
“Liam has been with us for a while. He is a tough, but very smart man in a fight, a bit like Bruce McLaren. This is certainly someone for the future…”
[ServusTV] #F1 pic.twitter.com/kXp2cbbTkJ
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 6, 2023
After a brief pause, Daniel Ricciardo resurfaced the Formula 1 grid in Hungary. He is slated to miss a total of four Grand Prix events whilst recovering from his most recent injury. Young driver Liam Lawson is given an isolated opportunity to step in and fill the seat that was given to Ricciardo. It has been revealed that Lawson will go on representing AlphaTauri until Daniel Ricciardo is ready to make a comeback.
AlphaTauri is currently in 10th place in the 2023 constructors’ championship with three points. As Yuki Tsunoda is now in 17th position and has three points to his name, both Daniel and Liam find themselves at the bottom of the driver standings, each with zero points to their names. Due to Ricciardo’s absence, the 21-year-old driver’s effort is the focal point of attention among spectators and fans as they can have a clear perception of the future of F1.
Discussion about this post