After eight months out of the F1 spotlight, Daniel Ricciardo is back for the remaining 12 grands prix of this season which are make or break for what lies beyond for the genial Australian.
Red Bull third driver Ricciardo has joined AlphaTauri ‘on loan’ after the team opted to axe Nyck de Vries just 10 races into his Formula 1 career.
The decision was brutal, casting doubt on AlphaTauri’s selection process after the F2 and Formula E champion had seemingly proven himself on the F1 stage with a stirring performance in last season’s Italian Grand Prix in stepping in for Alex Albon at Williams.
Questions also have to be raised about Red Bull’s Junior Driver programme, with five hopefuls currently competing in F2, and with another in New Zealander Liam Lawson waiting in the wings as he currently competes in Super Formula.
For Red Bull and AlphaTauri, it took one Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday to validate the thinking that had been building over these past few months – that Ricciardo is ready to end his exile, and with his appetite renewed after his troubling departure from McLaren at the end of last year.
The 34-year-old was ditched by McLaren with a season remaining on a very lucrative three-year contract. At that stage, he was disillusioned and wondering what his future had in store.
With the exception of a startling and anomalous Italian Grand Prix victory in 2021, Ricciardo spent two seasons with McLaren in a near-permanent state of bewilderment, baffled as to why he and the team’s cars over that period just could not get along.
McLaren made all manner of attempts to get him comfortable but all too often the smile for which Ricciardo has become synonymous was a frown born from frustration.
In the end, the parting of ways was inevitable, but also a relief in many respects for Ricciardo as it afforded him the time to determine in what direction he wanted to head, to ascertain whether there was a hunger to return.
As the months have passed, and Ricciardo has engaged in numerous marketing activities for Red Bull and played his part in the simulator to assist current race drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, so his desire to give F1 another go has increased.
In stepping behind the wheel of the RB19 he has helped develop this year, those feelings would have grown stronger, and the data underlined the rekindled passion.
It is understood he produced a lap time that would have been good enough to see him on the front row alongside Verstappen for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
Following the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner again indicated there was no desire to see Ricciardo back alongside Verstappen, as was the case for three years from 2016-18.
Giving Ricciardo a helping hand last year when he was at a low ebb by offering him the team’s third driver role was one thing, but a race seat again?
“It’s not something that we’re planning, that’s for certain,” said Horner on the possibility after the race at Silverstone.
“It was right to give him the opportunity this year to remain within the team and keep him around the sport. It would have been a loss to the sport for him just to disappear.
“I didn’t recognise the Daniel of the last couple of years so I’ll be very interested to see what kind of job he does on Tuesday.”
And with those last few words, there was the rub. Horner and Red Bull still being keen to assess Ricciardo’s performance.
It was not as if he was stepping into the car blind given his simulator appearances as he would have been familiar with it and its settings.
Admittedly on test rubber, data gathered would have allowed Red Bull’s engineers to assess how closely matched Ricciardo was to Verstappen and Perez, the latter seemingly skating on thin ice with regard to his own future.
Despite a run of five consecutive qualifying sessions in failing to reach Q3, with Verstappen claiming pole on each occasion, Perez insists he has the full support of Horner and advisor Helmut Marko. It is akin to the dreaded vote of confidence.
Perez’s only saving grace is that his deal expires at the end of next season and not following this current campaign, otherwise, you would have to say his exit, sooner rather than later, would be looming.
Throw in the welter of sponsors behind Perez and the money they bring in support, and even though Red Bull is obviously not in the same financial situation as, say, Williams for argument’s sake, it would be difficult for the team to follow McLaren’s lead and axe a driver with a year still remaining on a contract. But then stranger things have happened at Red Bull.
Ricciardo proved himself around Silverstone, with the spark of driving a current car again lighting the blue touchpaper inside and confirming he wanted to return, even if AlphaTauri was not a stated aim.
Ricciardo had previously declared that only a front-running team would stir his interest but there are no seats available with any of the six leading teams, other than Mercedes where Lewis Hamilton is expected to sign a new deal at some point this year.
Red Bull and Mercedes aside, all current drivers at Ferrari, Aston Martin, McLaren, and Alpine are contracted for 2024. You can make a case against Lance Stroll but when your father owns the team…
Beyond that, the obvious option has always been for Ricciardo to prove himself with AlphaTauri, but his chance now coming sooner than perhaps he, and many others, had perhaps anticipated.
My Speedcafe colleague, Mat Coch, reasoned against such a move in an article he wrote in mid-May, which you can read here.
Two months ago there was a case in point, but that was two months ago.
Given the way Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren, though, he has a lot to prove, and an awful lot more to lose.
Should he find himself second best to new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in these 12 races, you feel that will be it for Ricciardo, even accounting for the fact he will be driving what is undoubtedly the worst car on the grid at present. The fact the team props up the constructors’ standings with just two points from 10 races says it all.
Given Ricciardo’s experience in the Red Bull simulator, and with those feelings validated from his day in the car on Tuesday, his feedback will naturally prove invaluable in hopefully helping propel AlphaTauri forward.
Conversely, Ricciardo also has a lot to gain from beating Tsunoda, and if he can manage it, comprehensively, it could open up doors that just do not exist at present.
A second spell with Red Bull will be the obvious goal in Ricciardo’s mind, regardless of the comments from Horner on Sunday.
Perez may have a contract and all his sponsors but Red Bull has shown it can be ruthless when it needs to be.
If the 33-year-old was under pressure before this announcement, that has now increased considerably with AlphaTauri taking on Ricciardo who is closer than ever to a Red Bull return.
The ball is in Ricciardo’s court. He has to show he is no longer the driver that departed McLaren under a cloud of confusion.
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