Daniel Ricciardo is already gambling on his F1 career, which got back on track just a few days ago after his AlphaTauri return. While speaking during the Hungarian Grand Prix press conference, the Australian made some interesting revelations about his bets with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. The $50,000,000 net worth driver makes these remarks two years after he forced McLaren CEO Zak Brown to get a tattoo following his outstanding victory at the Italian GP in Monza.
Following Ricciardo’s win, Brown got a tattoo with a drawing of the circuit and the 34-year-old’s name mentioned above it. Even though both Ricciardo and Brown were all smiles on that occasion, things didn’t end smoothly between them.
Race week. Haven’t said that in a while. Cool.
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) July 17, 2023
With Ricciardo underperforming massively in comparison to former McLaren teammate Lando Norris, the team eventually decided to part ways with him at the end of last season. In the end, his sacking was rather unceremonious. And to this date, Ricciardo’s fans are unhappy with Brown and his treatment.
Since Ricciardo is now back with the Red Bull family, all eyes will be on him when he takes to the circuit this weekend in Hungary. He stated that if he gets off to a good start, then he may have some bets with Marko.
Daniel Ricciardo reveals if he has some bets with Helmut Marko
While speaking at his first press conference this season, Daniel Ricciardo was asked if he has any bets going on with his team’s chief Helmut Marko. Just as the Perth-born driver replied that he had no ongoing bets, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen interrupted him by telling him how Marko really enjoys the same.
On hearing Verstappen revealing that Marko usually makes bets with a lot of money involved, Ricciardo expressed his surprise by stating, “Really? Alright. Let’s see how the first few races go. And then I might start making some bets“. Ricciardo will now hope to carry on his form from the Silverstone testing, where he put on a mega performance.
The honey badger registered a lap time that was just seven tenths off the time set by Max Verstappen during the British Grand Prix. And hence, if Ricciardo is able to register some strong performances with AlphaTauri this year, there is a chance of him returning to Red Bull next season.
Marko explains Ricciardo’s chances of moving back to Red Bull
Ahead of the Silverstone tests, Helmut Marko evaluated Sergio Perez’s position in Red Bull after a recent run of poor results. Since the Mexican driver has failed to qualify to Q3 in each of his last five races, there is a lot of scrutiny that he may lose his place in the team.
With Daniel Ricciardo having made his stance clear that he is keen on targeting the Red Bull seat, there is every possibility that he may replace Perez. Now it will be interesting to see what the senior Red Bull management makes of this situation.
While speaking to the Inside Line F1 podcast ahead of the Silverstone tests, Marko revealed (as quoted by planetf1.com) that while there are no plans to replace Perez at the moment, they will keep a close look at Ricciardo’s progress. Hence, since the Austrian has left the door open for a potential move, Ricciardo’s fans will be hopeful that the he can make a return to the senior Red Bull team.
