Red Bull third driver Daniel Ricciardo has made a shock return to the Formula one grid after Alpha Tauri sacked rookie Nyck de Vries after only ten races with the team.
Ricciardo was forced into retirement at the end of last year’s season after McLaren dropped him due to a disappointing two years with the team. The eight-time race winner has been given on loan to Alpha Tauri from sister team Red Bull for the reminder of the 2023 season beginning later this month at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Australian driver was recently in the RB19 at Silverstone doing laps for the Pirelli tyre test, setting times that would have placed him second during the British Grand Prix qualifying.
Dutchman De Vries took the motorsport community by storm last year when he replaced WIlliams driver Alexander Albon for the weekend due to the Thai driver being hospitalized with appendicitis. De Vries managed to qualify thirteenth on the grid before being promoted to eighth after penalties had been applied to drivers in front of him. He fought to keep his car in the points finishing in ninth after a late safety car, securing himself two championship points and Williams their equal best finish of the season in his first Formula One race.
(Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
De Vries has had to wait years for a shot in a Formula One car. Finishing his third Formula Two season as champion in 2019 with four wins and twelve podiums, he then moved on to Formula E winning in his rookie season with two wins and four podiums.
Though everybody’s excited fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo is returning, many are questioning if he deserves the opportunity more than the promising upcoming Red Bull juniors. Red Bull juniors Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa have been heavy favorites for an Alpha Tauri seat since Pierre Gasly announced he was on the move to Alpine last year.
Red Bull junior and reserve driver Liam Lawson is one of the most talked about up-and-coming talents. Currently in Japan racing in the Super Formula series, Lawson won on debut, becoming the first rookie driver in half a decade to do so. Kiwi Lawson is currently sitting second in the championship with two wins. Lawson has proved to be a generational talent winning on debut in nine of the series he has raced in, even coming close to winning the DTM championship in his rookie season.
Japanese formula two driver Ayumu Iwasa whose been a Red bull junior since 2021 was another option for Alpha Tauri to consider. Iwasa won the French Formula 4 title in 2020 with nine wins and fifteen podiums, since then he’s quicky risen up the ranks. The DAMS driver graduated to Formula Two in 2022 having been with his team since. Iwasa finished off his 2022 season finishing fifth in the championship with two wins and six podiums. He’s currently third in the championship taking three wins and four podiums after eight rounds.
So it needs to be asked, with deserving Red Bull juniors is bringing back the Honey Badger the correct decision?
Micko
Roar Rookie
There's no way Lawson is "next in line" for an RB seat if Horner & Marko have already twice overlooked him to get an AT seat! Ricciardo will be in the RB seat if Perez is dropped from the team.
Hannah Martin
Roar Rookie
Thank you!! Very excited to be given the opportunity and to see where it takes me! As an Australian I’m very excited that Daniels back on the grid and I hope that he does amazing and proves that he’s back, I just felt that Liam Lawson especially has proved himself within the different series he’s been in.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Welcome Hannah! The timing of this is pretty brutal and for the interim, Dan was the only available choice as they'd probably not want to pull Lawson out of Super Formula midway through his season. But for 2024, you'd hope the Kiwi gets the call up. It wouldn't surprise me either, pending how Dan fares now for AlphaTauri, if Red Bull taps Checo on the shoulder and come to an agreement to end his contract a year early. That would see Dan back at the main team for a season or two, while the next crop of juniors get properly blooded at whatever AlphaTauri will be called next year. An ideal hypothetical, but then again it is the ruthless Red Bull empire :laughing: Anything could happen.
Micko
Roar Rookie
If Lawson was rated so highly by Horner & Marko, then he would've had the 2023 seat already. It's telling that Horner & Marko preferred Colton Herta & Nyck De Vries over one of their own F2 proteges.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
Ricciardo was weak at McLaren but they were trying to make him a technical driver eg change settings frequently and that obviously did not suit him. Red Bull reckon Dan has improved out of site since arriving back in familiar surroundings. This puts a rocket under Perez who hasn't got the fastest F1 car out of Q1 for 5 successive GPs. But in all likelihood Perez will be back at the front in Hungary due to necessity. He needs to be winning races if Verstappen doesn't or he will be replaced by some lucky driver. The Alpha Tauri has been poor lately after starting the season well. Its hard to know if it's the drivers or the car but Tsunodo did start the season with impressive speed. So Ricciardo has a chance to impress but I doubt he will do enough to get a 2024 drive except potentially replacing Tsunodo as Alpha Tauris number one driver. I still see Lawson as next in line for the second Red Bull seat if Perez doesn't improve quickly. DeVries was in the wrong team for a first season veteran. Haas, Williams & Alfa would suit him better but his F1 driving career is probably over.
Ben Waterworth
Roar Guru
Welcome aboard Hannah! Great to have another motorsport writer join the very thin ranks here! Red Bull sadly are just suffering slightly in the junior ranks it seems and the decent drivers they have they aren't confident to promote them. Plus when you've got someone like Ricciardo waiting in the wings, you'd be silly not to use him. Definitely was not given the treatment he deserved at McLaren despite his shortcomings, so this is a real chance to showcase how talented everybody knows he is.
Wolzal
Roar Rookie
It is. Ricciardo will be the yardstick that will both determine the potential of the car, and whether Tsunoda is retained. Iwasa is sitting 3rd in the middle of an F2 season, while Lawson is still an unknown quantity that has to see out the Super Formula season. Don't forget De Vries was an F2 and FE champion, who stepped in late notice into an unfamiliar car and put in the points last year. It was Tsunoda that was supposed to be under pressure from a rampaging De Vries. For all Lawson's potential it can all come crashing back to earth very quickly. With little time to adapt and high expectations, Lawson's tenure could be cut just as short ad De Vries' Much has been made of Tsunoda's improvements, yet his early season consistency has faded and he currently sits on 2 points, compared to 11 points this time last year. De Vries has offered little in the way of a benchmark, and it needs to be determined if his results were flattering Yuki. For Ricciardo's part its a roll of the dice to get back to a race winning car, and all roads to success lie through Alpha Tauri. If he intends to unseat Perez and taste some Red Bull dominance before the expected reshuffle come 2026, he'll need to hit the ground running, and elevate his results beyond the limitations of the car. He simply can't be bombing out in Q1 and pottering around in 15th. He absolutely can't face a deficit to Tsunoda that he had to Norris at McLaren. Tsunoda is only contracted for 2023, he's been given more time and opportunity than any Red Bull junior to develop and improve. With both Lawson and Iwasa looming large, the pressure will heighten to not only stake his claim for Perez's ride, but to simply retain his own. Its make or break for both of them. Alpha Tauri itself is going through a restructure and rebranding, intending to follow the Ferrari/Haas model and using as many off-the-shelf parts from Red Bull as the regulations will allow, with the purpose of reining in its independence and bringing it back into the Red Bull fold. The driver program isn't the powerhouse it once was, and they hope to return Alpha Tauri to the development team it once was, running similar equipment, and long-term assisting in the development of the Ford-RBPT engine. Ricciardo's experience will be invaluable in helping direct his new direction.