Daniel Riccardo airs his optimism after first Free Practice at Hungaroring since F1 return with AlphaTauri
Daniel Ricciardo is back on the track after the 6 month, and he is optimistic after his first FP session with AlphaTauri.
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For the remaining part of the current F1 2023 season, the eight-time Grand Prix champion Daniel Ricciardo will drive in place of Nyck de Vries at Red Bull’s sister squad. Before getting into AlphaTauri–a team that has the last position in the Constructors’ Championship, Ricciardo had claimed he only wanted to return to the grid with a team that could compete at the front. However, the Australian driver highlighted how his perspective has changed in light of his recruitment at AlphaTauri.
“It’s good to be back, it feels familiar,” said Ricciardo. “Getting back into the Red Bull family brings back a lot of old feelings.” After racing Red Bull’s RB19 during a Pirelli tyre test on July 11 at Silverstone, Daniel Ricciardo was officially announced as an AlphaTauri driver to replace deVries. But there is no stopping at the Faenza-based team now for the Hobey Badger as Ricciardo claims that competing for Red Bull once more will be the “fairy-tale ending” to his career.
Ricciardo, who competed for Red Bull’s junior squad from 2012 to 2013 when it was known as Toro Rosso, is returning to familiar surroundings. After two dismal seasons with McLaren, Ricciardo was deemed surplus to requirements. The Perth native was taken up by Red Bull in the capacity of a third driver at the beginning of the 2023 season. Now that he is gearing up for his first race for AlphaTauri, he also said that Red Bull has not specified the targets he needs to achieve to get that second seat by usurping Sergio Perez.
Daniel Ricciardo’s return spells mayhem for Sergio Perez
The silly season drivers market rumours are on at the moment with Sergio Perez not helping himself again. The Mexican crashed yet again in FP1 in Hungarian GP. With the rumours ever-increasing about his time cut short at Red Bull, the Mexican is under more pressure than ever to deliver for the team and for himself. It should be noted that Daniel Ricciardo is now in a proper Red Bull-subsidiary seat by himself. And it might get even harder for the Mexican to secure his future if the poor form continues.
Woth a string of unfortunate performances since his last win in Monaco, Perez has been in the news for all sorts of bad reasons. It has been claimed that several warning shots have been fired at Sergio and the sacking of De Vries was an indication of how fast Red Bull can replace an underperforming driver. The pressure has always been on for Checo given his teammate is breaking grand slam records every week, but it is also true the Mexican is unable to find any podium in the last 7 races despite being in the fastest car on the grid.
In case you missed it:
- Daniel Ricciardo reveals his primary goal ahead of dramatic F1 return with AlphaTauri in Hungary
- Red Bull’s supposedly copied Aston Martin and McLaren’s sidepods for Hungarian GP upgrades
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)