Daniel Ricciardo will bring “new energy” to AlphaTauri following his appointment on a loan deal for the rest of the F1 season.
That is the verdict of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko who has delivered a damning assessment of Nyck de Vries’ performance, and seemingly placed a degree of pressure on Sergio Perez.
Ricciardo is back in F1 after an eight-month absence, with the Australian to partner Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri for the remaining 12 grands prix after Marko took the decision to axe De Vries after just 10 races.
The deal is effectively Ricciardo’s last roll of the dice in F1 as he will need to perform and prove himself against Tsunoda if he is to have any hope of ousting Perez from Red Bull once the Mexican’s contract expires at the end of next season.
Ricciardo certainly stepped up to the plate during a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday in the RB19 which was all the proof Marko needed to make the change.
Explaining the rationale behind handing Red Bull third driver Ricciardo a seat with AlphaTauri, speaking to De Telegraaf, Marko said: “His lap times were competitive on three different tyre sets.
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“If Ricciardo hadn’t had the speed, we would have considered something else.
“But AlphaTauri is not in a good position, last in the constructors’ standings, so we have to do something to bring something about. That often happens after a driver change, and Ricciardo brings new energy to the team.
“We have to see from Ricciardo how he compares to Tsunoda. I think Yuki is underestimated by a lot of people.
“The AlphaTauri is not the easiest car to drive, but Yuki has proven that it is possible to achieve good results.”
Ricciardo will no doubt have an eye on returning to Red Bull, particularly given Perez’s performance over the last five races.
The Mexican has remarkably failed to reach Q3 over that period, whilst team-mate Max Verstappen has secured pole position on each occasion.
Addressing the apparently growing pressure on Perez, Marko remarked: “Checo is second in the world championship, so it wouldn’t make sense to want to get rid of him now.
“His race was also good at Silverstone (British GP at the weekend), but he needs to improve in qualifying.”
As for De Vries, Marko pulled no punches in assessing where the Dutch driver went wrong following his arrival.
The F2 and Formula E champion was signed on the back of a performance in last year’s Italian Grand Prix, where he stood in for an appendicitis-hit Alex Albon at Williams, which Marko described as “great” in finishing ninth.
This season has been one of struggle for De Vries, albeit in a woeful car.
Despite that, Marko said: “We expected him to be at least equal to his team-mate this year, but that wasn’t the case. Actually, he was always three-tenths slower. We didn’t see any improvement.
“He is 28 years old, has a lot of experience and also a lot of knowledge as a test driver in various F1 cars. I don’t think you can compare him to a young rookie.
“At the end of April in Baku, he started the weekend well and I thought he was going to perform better, but then he crashed again. Unfortunately, he never once did a super lap that amazed us.
“So we had to do something. Why should we wait and what difference do two more races make if you don’t see any improvement? Nyck is a very nice guy, but the speed just wasn’t there.”
As to De Vries’ future F1 prospects, Marko added: “That will be difficult, but at the same time, I think he saw this coming. He can build a great career in long-distance racing.”
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