The biggest F1 news of this season so far came after the recent Pirelli tire test in Silverstone, when AlphaTauri announced that they had sacked Nyck de Vries and replaced him with Daniel Ricciardo. Even though the 34-year-old Australian has stated that his primary F1 dream is to win a world championship, he ironically finds himself on the slowest team of the 2023 grid. Some believe people that the only reason that Ricciardo pounced on this opportunity was because he was afraid of AlphaTauri signing 2021 IndyCar Series Champion Alex Palou.
As for Ricciardo, it is a golden opportunity for him to showcase that he still has what it takes to compete at the highest level. And if he is able to showcase that, there is a possibility that Red Bull signs him up once again.
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This could also be a reason why Ricciardo decided to cancel his plans of spending an entire year on the sidelines. Instead, he will now suit up for AlphaTauri for the 2023 Hungarian GP next weekend. The onus is on the 34-year-old to show the Red Bull bosses that he is still as good as he was when he left them.
Daniel Ricciardo takes first big step in his F1 comeback
In the latest episode of ESPN’s Unlapped podcast, the hosts discuss the potential reasons that could have forced Daniel Ricciardo to join AlphaTauri. They begin by stating that before the Australian surprisingly joined the team, there were rumors that the Faenza-based outfit would go for IndyCar stars Colton Herta or Alex Palou.
They then added that since Palou is currently competing in IndyCar, which runs until September, Ricciardo is lucky to have landed the AlphaTauri seat, because of the Spaniard’s unavailability. The, they added, “If they sign Palou in the offseason or before next season, the door is slammed in your face. So I really think he (Ricciardo) had to do it. There was no other way“.
Even though Ricciardo has now managed to sign for AlphaTauri, it is important to note that this is just his first step in a long road back to the top. If the 34-year-old is keen on staying in the sport, he needs to hit the ground running as soon as possible. And his first challenge would be to beat his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who has been mightily impressive this year.
Yuki Tsunoda is a contender to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull
When it comes to Yuki Tsunoda, there are talks that he may even replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull amidst the Mexican’s recent struggles. Perez has struggled massively in the last five races, failing to make it into Q3 in all of them.
Hence, if Daniel Ricciardo wants to be the next in line to replace Perez, he needs to ensure that he is able to beat Tsunoda comprehensively this year at AlphaTauri. Even though the Perth-born driver is now racing for the slowest team on the grid, it could arguably turn out to be his most important year in F1.
This is because if he does not perform at the level that is expected of him, he may find it almost impossible to make another return to the sport. Therefore, it is fair to say that when it comes to the driver market for next year, all eyes will be on Daniel Ricciardo for the second half of this season.
