As mid-season drama goes in a year dominated to the point of stupefaction by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo’s unexpected promotion to AlphaTauri was surely just the plot twist Formula One required.
The Australian is an undoubted talent too good to be lingering on the sidelines and also a character to whom fans are drawn and about whom they care. Unsurprisingly, then, the start of a new chapter of his career in Hungary this weekend is enthralling, marking the opening of an unlikely comeback or the beginning of the descent of the final curtain.
