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.
At the Hungaroring on Thursday, Red Bull announced at short notice that Ricciardo would be speaking in their motorhome, the first time he had done so publicly since they summarily dismissed the underperforming Nyck de Vries from his seat in their sister team and moved the 34-year-old into his place.
In no short order Red Bull’s gin palace was rammed. Netflix were there, understandably acknowledging this was the stuff that combined the “drive” and “survive” aspects of their Drive to Survive series, their proboscis-like boom swaying under the serried ranks of sweating media.
The scenes were unthinkable were this the appointment of another rookie to a struggling midfield team. Ricciardo’s return was a story, but more important was the subtext around it. With Verstappen running away with the title, the form of his teammate, Sergio Pérez, has spun into decline to an almost equal but inverse proportion. He failed to qualify in the top 10 for the five previous meetings and now trails Verstappen by 99 points after 10 races.
Ricciardo enjoyed a successful run with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, in his debut season outperforming Sebastian Vettel and winning seven races in four years. It is considered that he is being given the warm-up as a potential replacement for Pérez, just as his appointment also served as a statement, “pour encourager les autres”, for the Mexican.
Regardless of what happens in Hungary this weekend, where Ricciardo has qualified an impressive 13th, he knows the real score and what is at stake, as does Pérez. The Australian was explicit in Budapest, saying it was his dream to return to the Red Bull team and Pérez knows his seat is the target.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine the Red Bull operation being so forgiving of Pérez were they not already so dominant with Verstappen. When they were under the Mercedes cosh and every point was vital, they were ruthless in dismissing Pérez’s predecessors, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon. With the opposition expected to move closer next year they will need two drivers returning strong results. If Ricciardo can prove himself at AlphaTauri in the remaining 12 races he will have made his case to return to the fold and Red Bull will be hard pressed to ignore it.
It is a big ask and therein lies the fascination. The stakes could not be higher, a potential return to the team with the best car in F1 or, if he cannot recover his form, what is likely to be a somewhat ignominious end to his career at a team languishing in the bottom third of the grid. Ricciardo knows he has to give it his all.
“In terms of expectation, there is none,” he said. “I know the car is going to have some limitations but I’ve got to do the best with what I’ve got. If you ask me where I want to finish, I couldn’t tell you. I just want to know I put everything into it and got a lap I can be proud of.”
Pride is clearly very much at stake. Ricciardo suffered a loss of confidence and downturn in performance during his two years at McLaren in 2021 and 2022, so much so that he had not anticipated returning to driving this year. His reputation, indeed his legacy, as an F1 driver is now on the line. Succeed and his talent would be rightly recognised but failure would leave his ability to adapt to the changing sport exposed as an enormously costly weakness.
Nor will this task be easy. He is a driver who thrives on feel in the car, best able to exploit it when he feels naturally at ease with his ride. The AlphaTauri, however, is exceedingly turbulent at the best of times. It is not only off the pace but a handful to drive, particularly through the low-speed corners where it suffers from an instability that saps a driver’s confidence.
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It is perhaps the toughest challenge on the grid for the Australian, who has not put in a competitive lap since the end of last season and for whom corner entry was something he struggled with at McLaren.
For Ricciardo there is no doubt just how heavily such issues weigh and they are far from minor. “I started probably just falling into a little bit of a trap where I thought: ‘This car doesn’t suit me and I need to work around this and this and this,’” he said. “You can probably be your own worst enemy as well.”
With eight wins, Ricciardo has already made his mark on F1, indeed his 2014 win in Hungary in mixed conditions was one of his finest drives, a display of verve and skill to match some of the greats. The test on Sunday is an altogether different prospect but one perhaps no less gripping. Whether it is opening act or denouement, time will tell.
