After Promising Friday, Daniel Ricciardo Is Hopeful of First Success Since Being Ousted from McLaren

After Promising Friday, Daniel Ricciardo Is Hopeful of First Success Since Being Ousted from McLaren

Over the last few years, Daniel Ricciardo has had a torrid time in F1 because of a nightmare spell at McLaren. He left the team, took a small hiatus, and returned to F1 with AlphaTauri this year. Still, he has yet to score a point. However, per a report from Speedcafe, Ricciardo is hopeful of getting off the mark in Mexico.

During FP1 in Mexico City, Ricciardo made 30 laps around the track and finished P8, with his best lap time being 1:20.568. The second practice session was even better as Ricciardo improved his time to record a P6 finish. By doing so, he set up a hopeful race weekend for himself in Mexico, as reflected in his words quoted by SpeedCafe.

“The field is close, and you never know what other teams are doing exactly, but I know what I felt in the car today was good, and I believe it’s a top 10 car tomorrow.”
The Mexican GP will mark the second race for Ricciardo after coming back from his injury. At last week’s race in Austin, he got only P15, whereas his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, registered a P8 finish. Having been on the sidelines since the Dutch GP, Ricciardo would be itching to get back into the points, especially considering what his end goal is.

The 34-year-old is aiming to earn back the Red Bull seat he parted ways with at the end of the 2018 season. After rejoining the team at the start of the 2023 season as their third driver, redemption has been the sole motive for the Australian, and a stint at AlphaTauri could be the key to unlocking the door that sees him sit inside the Red Bull F1 car once more.

Daniel Ricciardo aiming to replace Sergio Perez in the Red Bull driver lineup

Having stepped away from Red Bull in hopes of finding more success, Ricciardo returned to the Milton Keynes-based team with nothing but a broken heart following his falling out with McLaren. The Honey Badger now seeks redemption and knows a return to his old Red Bull seat would be the ultimate success until he can somehow win a race. Given the lack of consistency and the shocking drop in performances by Sergio Perez while driving the RB19, experts and pundits are almost certain that the Mexican driver has no future with the team.

As such, Ricciardo emerges as the front-runner to replace him, as not a lot of drivers might want to partner up with Max Verstappen in a Red Bull car. Should this be the case, Ricciardo might have to wait until 2025 before he can once again call himself a full-time driver for Red Bull in F1.

 

Despite wanting a return to Red Bull as soon as possible, Ricciardo has no hard feelings towards Perez. He recently revealed he does not wish anything bad on Perez or any other competitor in hopes of manifesting a positive result for himself. Ricciardo added he respects Checo’s time as a Red Bull driver and wants to use his time as an AlphaTauri driver to solidify his case as the perfect replacement for Perez when the time comes.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
AlphaTauri Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing

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Naman Gopal Srivastava

Naman is an F1 writer at The SportsRush. Initially a football fanatic who worships Puyol and Leo Messi, Naman soon fell in love with the world of F1 upon reading about Jim Clarke. While the current era drivers do fascinate him, Naman still chooses to idolize Clarke and Ayrton Senna. When he is not busy watching the highlights of some of the greatest races of his idols, Naman can be found scribbling little snippets in his diary of poems or out in the town, exploring new places to eat.

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