Red Bull was initially against Daniel Ricciardo’s return to F1 mid-season
Daniel Ricciardo has returned to AlphaTauri for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Several factors have allowed the Australian to come back as a regular driver. However, Red Bull was considering keeping Daniel Ricciardo in his reserve driver role.
The 2023 season did not announce a return as a full-time driver for Daniel Ricciardo. After two difficult seasons at McLaren, the Australian returned to his former team as a reserve driver. Initially, his role was to contribute to the development of the Red Bull car as a simulator driver. The idea was for his 2023 year to be limited to that, and Red Bull did not foresee his return as a principal driver, an idea that was also rejected by AlphaTauri.
“At the beginning, we were told that Daniel was a reserve driver at Red Bull and that it would stay that way,” said Peter Bayer, CEO of the Italian team to Motorsport magazine. “Then, for a month, we wondered how things were going for him. At one point, Christian Horner came to see us and said, ‘we’re doing tests in Silverstone, maybe we’ll take a look at him.’ So Helmut Marko said, ‘Yes, why not.'”
Trials at Silverstone that changed everything
Several notable events were about to change Daniel Ricciardo’s season. Firstly, on AlphaTauri’s side, the difficult start of rookie Nyck de Vries was starting to raise doubts within the team. The Dutchman was struggling to convince, making mistakes and scoring few points. The second major turning point in the Australian’s season was a private testing session for Pirelli at Silverstone. The Italian company wanted to test new tires for later introduction. During these private tests, Daniel Ricciardo drove the RB19.
The level of performance he displayed was very impressive, with lap times approaching those of the front-row qualifiers in the British Grand Prix. This situation unlocked his second half of the season. AlphaTauri has decided to terminate Nyck de Vries’ contract and reach an agreement with Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo for a six-month contract.
This decision has been beneficial for AlphaTauri. Daniel Ricciardo arrived for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Although he didn’t score any points, he had a good race for his return to competition. A few weeks later, a metacarpal fracture slightly compromised the rest of his season. He missed the month of September and the beginning of October before making his comeback at the United States Grand Prix. Although this comeback wasn’t very convincing, it was from the following Grand Prix in Mexico that Daniel Ricciardo achieved his best result of the season with a 4th place in qualifying and a 7th place in the race.
A new energy.
In addition to his on-track performances, Daniel Ricciardo satisfied AlphaTauri in terms of development. The experience of the former McLaren driver brought a lot to the engineers. Towards the end of the season, the Italian car significantly evolved and gained the upper hand over its competitors. After occupying the last place in the championship for several months, AlphaTauri finished in 8th place. « Daniel has experience, so he can help us with the setup on all tracks », Peter Bayer rejoiced. « Daniel is a true reference for Yuki. He brought an incredible amount of new energy to the team in just one week. Our mechanics were thrilled and said, “hey, wow, something is happening!” The change wasn’t easy, but in the end, it had such a positive effect. »
Daniel Ricciardo has extended his contract at the same time as Yuki Tsunoda for an additional year with AlphaTauri. His contract now runs until the end of the 2024 season.
