After a short hiatus on the sidelines, Daniel Ricciardo found his way back into F1 with AlphaTauri midway into the 2023 season. Back in the Red Bull family, the honey badger has been paired alongside Yuki Tsunoda. And despite spending just a short span of time with the Aussie, Tsunoda has admitted that he needs the 34-year-old’s help, per Autosport.com.
Ricciardo replaced the outgoing Nyck de Vries on the Faenza-based team. But into just his 3rd race back, the Perth-born driver was caught up in a horrible crash at the Dutch GP. As a result, he broke his hand, and got sidelined for three races.
🚨 | Yuki Tsunoda wants to fight and earn a Red Bull promotion.
Despite links to Aston Martin, Tsunoda insists that joining Red Bull is his priority:https://t.co/908iJnbpUI
— formularacers (@formularacers_) October 16, 2023
The relationship between Tsunoda and Ricciardo has a layer of complexity as well. As things stand, the duo are the front-runners to replace an underperforming Sergio Perez at the main Red Bull team. However, there’s only going to be one seat vacant.
Daniel Ricciardo has already started mentoring Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda was quoted as revealing (by Autosport.com), “Already [I] learned lots of things from him. Especially the weakness I have. And what I want to improve now is probably one of the best things that he is good at.” The Japanese driver then went on to clarify his statement by expressing his desire to learn “emotional control” from the Honey Badger.
Ricciardo is the perfect mentor for him. Tsunoda explained, “He’s much more calm than me. That’s probably one of the things I want to improve now. More like emotion control. And how he behaves in teams. He’s really good. That’s really key. Especially when you drive 24 races a year and drive consistently.”
Yuki Tsunoda hopes that working more with @AlphaTauriF1 teammate Daniel Ricciardo can help him improve his ’emotional control’ 🧘♂️
Would you like to see a calmer Yuki on race weekends? pic.twitter.com/kJLRbeJIft
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) October 20, 2023
Ricciardo’s experience speaks for itself. He’s been in F1 since 2011, when he made his debut for HRT. Since then, the former McLaren driver has gone on to amass a multitude of podiums and has proven himself a race-winner on 8 occasions.
Ricciardo favorite to replace Sergio Perez
Daniel Ricciardo is the no. 1 candidate being tipped to replace Sergio Perez at the Milton-Keynes-based team. His experience in a Red Bull, his stint as a teammate of Verstappen and his obvious talent, all make a compelling argument for the Bulls. Hence, come 2025, Ricciardo may be in the Red Bull second seat.
Perez on the other hand might find himself without an F1 seat altogether. In 2023, the Mexican has been nowhere near the pace of Max Verstappen. Arguably, with Perez struggling for pace and consistency, the team is looking at all the available options in the paddock.
Driver shuffling isn’t a concept alien to the Bulls. In the past, on many occasions, the team has decided enough is enough and given the boot to one of their current drivers.
