AlphaTauri’s new recruit Daniel Ricciardo had an impressive return to F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix this past weekend as he not only out-qualified his young teammate Yuki Tsunoda but also beat him in the race. Even though the Australian delivered such a fantastic performance, there are concerns surrounding him not getting a Red Bull seat even if Sergio Perez leaves the team. In fact, according to an expert, F1 rookie Oscar Piastri may get the nod ahead of him.
Piastri was mightily impressive at the Hungarian GP despite facing some troubles during the race. This is because although the 22-year-old qualified fourth on the grid and ran second for a large part of the race, he only managed to finish fifth after some of his rivals undercut him during the pit stops.
It is pertinent to note that Piastri was so impressive during the race that his name came up while talking about potential podium finishers. His teammate, Lando Norris, explained (as quoted by crash.net) how the young Australian almost also took the lead of the race after he had a poor start. Since Piastri was so impressive, Eddie Jordan has warned Ricciardo of the threat his compatriot poses.
Eddie Jordan explains why Red Bull will not sign Daniel Ricciardo
While speaking on talkSPORT recently, Eddie Jordan (former owner of the now defunct Jordan F1 team) heaped praise on Oscar Piastri and explained why Red Bull signing the Melbourne-born driver won’t surprise him in the future. The 75-year-old believes there is a possibility of this happening after the way the he started from the second row in his first ever race at the Hungaroring, and how he gave Max Verstappen a tough time.
After stating the same, Jordan cautioned the rest of the field by adding, “Be careful where he’s going to go. Because I think there is big star quality in there. I’m actually blown away with this young kid. So he’d be one of the drivers I’d be looking at to challenge Max in the future“.
After praising Piastri, Jordan then explained why Red Bull are more likely to sign him over Daniel Ricciardo. The Irishman said that he does not see Ricciardo having a chance of going back to Red Bull as he believes that the Milton Keynes-based outfit usually do not “go back in time“.
Hence, considering Jordan’s remarks, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Ricciardo, who has made his desire abundantly clear. The 34-year-old has stated that he will use his time at AlphaTauri for the rest of this year to regain his confidence and challenge for the second seat at Red Bull.
Marko believes the change to bring in Ricciardo “worked out perfectly“
Following the conclusion of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was all praises for Daniel Ricciardo. In a conversation with Sky Sports Germany after the race, the 80-year-old explained how it was a “very confident and mature performance” from the former McLaren driver, who lost out on the start following a minor collision.
Daniel Ricciardo’s race got off to a bumpy start as the Aussie made his return to racing#HungarianGP @AlphaTauriF1 pic.twitter.com/p9CEAbisvZ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2023
After stating the same, Marko explained how the return of Ricciardo has helped AlphaTauri move in the right direction. “It’s also the positive momentum that he brought to the team and a stabilization of the technical statements and changes – the change worked out perfectly,” explained Marko (as quoted by gpfans.com).
With Ricciardo returning to racing for the first time in more than six months, this performance was undoubtedly very impressive. If he continues to perform this way, Red Bull may bring his name up when looking at potential replacements to Sergio Perez.
