Daniel Ricciardo signed as Red Bull’s reserve driver for the 2023 season after the early termination of his contract with the McLaren F1 team.
Ricciardo’s decision to rejoin Red Bull as a third driver, given his plans to return to the F1 grid in the 2024 season has been questioned a lot.
Unlike the usual reserve drivers agreements, Ricciardo signed a tailor-made deal with the Milton-Keynes-based team which allows him to perform his role with a break.
However, there are still doubts about the deal for instance if he will be the reserve driver for both Red Bull and AlphaTauri.
this is a friendly reminder that Daniel Ricciardo gave McLaren their only win since 2012 ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/NkVY33HNh5
— Mia³ (@ricciardosbabe) November 29, 2022
Speaking on the Fast Lane podcast, Ricciardo was asked if that is the case and if the F1 pundits should give a ‘dodgy bowl’ of food to AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda during the Australian GP.
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Daniel Ricciardo does not want Tsunoda to get sick
Answering the question, the Australian said, “let’s leave Yuki alone and let him race” at the 2023 Australian GP because he does want a break.
Giving out the details of his deal, the Honeybadger revealed that he’d only be available as a reserve driver for the team for a maximum of eight races. He clarified that if he had to do all 24 races, he might as well race in the main grid.
Furthermore, on top of his customised deal, Ricciardo will be involved in the sim work and the marketing side of the Red Bull team. The 33-year-old said, “Red Bull could use a good-looking cat like me.”
Red Bull made more sense than Mercedes
Since the termination of his contract with Red Bull, widespread rumours had suggested that Ricciardo might move to Mercedes as a reserve driver.
The 8-GP winner revealed that there were talks with Mercedes but going to Red Bull made much more sense. Ricciardo said that he appreciated that engagement with the Brackley-based team but he saw more opportunities with the Red Bull offer and it naturally progressed.
Moreover, the 33-year-old said that he felt nice being considered by some of the top teams given the few couple of years that he has had in the sport.
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