Following Nyck de Vries’ axing, Daniel Ricciardo made a long-awaited comeback to the F1 grid as an AlphaTauri driver. The move immediately gave way to speculations arising over the Australian replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull, but an unfortunate broken hand stopped Ricciardo from dreaming about it any further. Addressing a potential Ricciardo comeback to Red Bull, X user Junaid JB#17 quotes Helmut Marko’s demands from the Australian driver.
Ricciardo made an instant impact upon his return to the track with AlphaTauri. Despite not finishing in points, the two races showcased just how good the 34-year-old can be when presented with a capable car. His strong performances only added to the speculations about him replacing Perez in the coming season.
Helmut Marko has only one demand from Daniel Ricciardo
After a strong start to the season, Perez has only paled in comparison to the performances put in by his teammate. The Japanese GP was further proof of how terrible the season has been for the Mexican driver. In light of the same, Helmut Marko addressed the potential drivers who can replace Perez when the time comes. With Ricciardo being the current front-runner, Marko said (quoted by Junaid #JB17) they want him to perform at the optimum level.
“Daniel Ricciardo wants, that is his goal, to return to Red Bull Racing. To do this he has to offer appropriate performances.”
Both Ricciardo and Perez are over 30, and Marko wants a driver who can be with the team for a long period. As such, Lawson could be the surprise driver to race for Red Bull soon. Barring Tsunoda, only Lawson has earned points for AlphaTauri this season, as Ricciardo finished P13 and P16 in his two races.
An important season for Ricciardo in 2024
The next race will be in Qatar in two weeks’ time, and Ricciardo would ideally look to be back racing then. If not, then the US GP should be the latest event for Ricciardo to make a comeback this season. Despite not having many races under his belt in 2023, Ricciardo received good news as he and Tsunoda have been named AlphaTauri’s drivers for the upcoming season.
💥 ‘You have certain drivers like Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson, or Yuki Tsunoda who could take over if Pérez doesn’t do a good job next year.’
🗞️@MST_Formel1 | #F1 #JapaneseGP 2/2 pic.twitter.com/HJfpBC7QoM
— RedFlagFoneEng (@RedFlagFoneEng) September 25, 2023
Heading into the 2024 season, Ricciardo’s main aim would be to impress the Red Bull personnel in particular. As the Australian is firm on not moving to another team, he will look to prove he’s worthy of reclaiming his older seat in Red Bull. As Horner and Marko have stated earlier, Perez’s seat for the 2024 season is secure. However, his contract expires at the end of the season, and that’s when Ricciardo or the others will look forward to hearing from Red Bull about a potential contract.
