Daniel Ricciardo finally returned to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri a few months ago, having been on the sidelines for almost half a season. The Australian was previously with McLaren, where he had a torrid couple of seasons. In both campaigns, inexperienced McLaren teammate Lando Norris beat him. As a result of the same, McLaren parted ways with Ricciardo towards the end of last season and instead signed rising star Oscar Piastri. Since Ricciardo has struggled massively ever since he left Red Bull at the end of 2018, he has now revealed that he will not make the same mistake again.
At the end of 2018, the 34-year-old had left the Milton Keynes outfit to join rivals Renault. The move did not go down well with Red Bull, who shared a tense relationship with the French outfit. Many in the F1 community saw it as a move where Ricciardo betrayed Red Bull.
As a result, it was a huge surprise when the Honey Badger revealed that he was joining AlphaTauri as a reserve driver at the start of this season. However, with him now back as a full-time driver, Ricciardo has his eyes set on the senior Red Bull team.
Daniel Ricciardo is at peace even if he does not end up at Red Bull
Since Sergio Perez has struggled massively this season, the big question is whether Red Bull will replace him with Daniel Ricciardo or not. Irrespective of what the Milton Keynes outfit decides, the 34-year-old revealed in a recent interview with Mirror Sport that he is at peace, as he has returned to a team where he feels at home.
The Australian explained, “I’m definitely here to stay and I want to stay in the Red Bull family. Being back here just feels very right for me“. Ricciardo added that even if Red Bull do not sign him again, he is happy to help AlphaTauri in their rebuilding process and contribute as much as he can to get them higher up the grid.
While the Australian may just be content with returning to the Red Bull family, he may not be too far away from returning to the senior team. Perez has come under increasing pressure as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner himself has admitted that his side do not have an ideal driver pairing.
Horner believes Perez is not an ideal driver to partner with Verstappen
As Sergio Perez continues to struggle, Christian Horner revealed in an interview (as quoted by motorsport.com) how Red Bull is one of the top teams that do not have an ideal driver line-up. The Briton believes that all of Red Bull’s rivals such as Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren have a strong driver pairing, who can be relied upon.
While he added that Red Bull cannot afford to have a “big split” between their drivers next year, he did make it clear that the team will provide all the support they can to Perez to ensure that the Mexican can rediscover his form. However, if the 33-year-old continues to struggle, the Milton Keynes outfit could easily change their mind as they have some top drivers in their side who can partner Max Verstappen.
Even if Red Bull do not believe that Daniel Ricciardo is a driver who is deserving of that second seat, they do also have Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson within their ranks. As a result, the onus is on Perez to ensure that he does enough to maintain Red Bull’s faith in him.
