Almost a year after McLaren paid him not to race for the team in 2023, following two poor years on the track, Daniel Ricciardo will be back on the Formula One grid from this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, driving for AlphaTauri.
The Australian will replace rookie Nyck de Vries, who was given the boot after just 10 races this season. The Dutch driver made his debut last year for Williams at the Italian GP and scored points, which was enough to convince Helmut Marko, advisor to Red Bull and head of the team’s junior driver programme, to hire the 28-year-old for AlphaTauri’s second seat.
However, Marko, known for his ruthless approach to handling drivers, lost patience with de Vries, who could not finish better than 12th this season, and turned to Ricciardo, who is trying to resurrect his career.
Life has come full circle for Ricciardo, who had his first full season with the same outfit (known as Toro Rosso) in 2012 before graduating to the main team: Red Bull Racing. Ever since he left the Red Bull stable in 2019 to join Renault (now Alpine), Ricciardo’s career has gone off the rails despite registering McLaren’s only win post 2012 (Italy 2021).
Spectacular fall
With Lando Norris demolishing him during their two years together at McLaren, Ricciardo’s stock was at an all-time low. He chose to take a demotion and become a reserve driver for the Red Bull-owned teams. It was a spectacular fall from grace for the 34-year-old who was once considered a future world champion.
Indeed, Ricciardo even had the measure of Max Verstappen, the two-time reigning champion, in the Dutch prodigy’s early years at Red Bull. But as Verstappen got quicker and shifted the balance of power towards him, Ricciardo felt he needed to leave the Red Bull nest to fly higher.
After some troubles with the Renault machinery initially, Ricciardo found his groove, comfortably seeing off Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon. But it was also surprising that before the delayed 2020 season started, he decided to jump ship to McLaren to replace the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz. At McLaren, he started slowly like at Renault, but never could find his feet even as a young upstart in Norris adapted excellently to the McLaren car’s tricky demands.
Ricciardo’s position became untenable as he scored only a third of Norris’ points in 2022 while being paid a significantly larger salary of 20 million euros.
Ricciardo is a colourful character with an ever-present wide grin. His return will certainly liven up the F1 paddock. But for someone who 10 months ago decided against taking a seat just to make up the numbers, it is a surprise decision to drive for the least competitive team on the grid.
So what is the upside for the ‘Honey Badger’?
Perhaps Ricciardo, seeing Perez’s struggle in the second Red Bull seat, senses an opportunity to secure a long-term move to the team with which he won seven races (2014-2018). In an era of limited testing, mileage under the belt is priceless. Half a season in a less-stressful environment against the young Yuki Tsunoda, who isn’t an elite driver yet, could have many benefits.
Time running out
Moreover, time is running out for the 34-year-old. This is his last chance to show Red Bull what he is capable of, which he might be able to do if he recovers his mojo, away from the pressure of being beaten by Norris.
The move to AlphaTauri was announced after Ricciardo, in his role as Red Bull reserve driver, completed a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone after the British GP.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner, assessing Ricciardo’s simulator work at the start of the year, had felt his former employee had picked up some bad driving habits from his time at McLaren. But he was encouraged by what he saw in the test.
Speaking to the F1 Nation Podcast, Horner said, “What impressed me the most, and I went up to have a look at the test, was bearing in mind he hasn’t driven this car and hadn’t been in a car for seven months, within his third or fourth lap he was down to a time that was within a second of what our drivers were achieving.
“Then, his first proper run, as it were, on tyres that were comparable, you could see his confidence was growing and growing. That first [flying] lap of probably what was his seventh lap of the day would have put him on the front of the grid. So it was hugely impressive.”
While Horner has said that the team is backing Perez — who is under contract until the end of 2024 — the signing of a proven race winner in the sister team could also be a way to keep the Mexican on his toes. Horner conceded as well that the option of coming to Red Bull in 2025 had driven Ricciardo to take on a tough assignment for the rest of the year and that the team is happy to evaluate a backup option for the second seat.
Perez has had a wretched run of races, qualifying outside the top ten in the last five events. He currently finds himself 99 points behind Verstappen.
Stinging indictment
While Ricciardo is just one piece of the puzzle in the latest driver jigsaw at Red Bull/AlphaTauri, the firing of de Vries is also a stinging indictment of Red Bull’s junior programme.
In 2006, the energy drink manufacturer bought Minardi, which became Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri), to push its junior drivers into F1 and have more say in the sport’s affairs with enhanced voting power. The intention of offering junior drivers two seats to cut their F1 teeth without them needing to bring in money from sponsors for the team budget is well-intentioned. To be sure, it is the stuff of dreams for aspiring young racers. But the gig also comes with the sword of Damocles hanging over the drivers.
The team has churned through so many promising talents; some lasted a couple of years and some even less, as we saw last week. Marko hired de Vries impulsively, and by casting him away similarly, has raised questions about the future of the junior programme and junior team.
The logical choice would have been to promote the team’s other reserve driver, the much younger Liam Lawson, currently fighting for the Super Formula title in Japan. Red Bull has often thrown drivers into the deep end and it is unlikely the 21-year-old New Zealander would have chosen the Super Formula title over an F1 debut.
But for now, the world of Formula One will be happy to see the cheerful ‘Honey Badger’ back. If he can rework some of his old magic with those sensational late-braking overtakes, it will add a much-needed spark to what has been a lacklustre season.
