Daniel Ricciardo will rejoin Red Bull Racing as the team’s third driver in 2023, according to team motorsport adviser Helmut Marko.
The team hasn’t formally confirmed the news, but Marko told Sky Sport Deutschland on Friday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the Australian would be returning to Milton Keynes in a promotional and ambassadorial role next season.
“Ricciardo will be our third driver,” Marko said. “We have so many sponsors, we have to do show runs and the like, so of course he‘s one of the most high profile and best suited.”
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Marko added that Liam Lawson will be the team’s reserve driver, suggesting Ricciardo wouldn’t be in line to stand in for either Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez in the event one of them were unable to drive.
However, the Kiwi is being lined up for a move to Japan to compete in the Super Formula series next year, which would leave him unavailable for reserve duties for at least three weekends due to direct clashes.
The Australian’s appointment would heap the pressure on Sergio Perez to find another step in performance next year. Though the Mexican is signed to the team for another two seasons, Red Bull Racing is notoriously ruthless with its driver roster, and the prospect of a competitive Ricciardo — and any lingering tension between Perez and Max Verstappen — might be too tempting for management to resist for 2024.
Ricciardo has also been linked to a reserve drive with Mercedes for several weeks, though Mick Schumacher is also thought to be in contention for the reserve role with the German marque since being dropped by Haas earlier this week.
The Australian had options to remain on the grid, most notably Haas, but has said he would prefer to spend a year on the sidelines linked to a top team rather than commit to a slog in the midfield.
Sky Sports’ Damon Hill said Ricciardo’s decision to return to Red Bull was a smart one, predicting he could end up with the starting seat come 2024.
“It could be quite an interesting one if you think about the problems they have apparently had between Max and Sergio,” Hill said.
“Let’s say the toys go out of the pram and there is some sort of fallout there, Daniel Ricciardo could be in prime position.
“It is his home, and he does owe a lot to Red Bull so he will be very keen to be back in that fold.
“What is it about the prodigal son who returns?
“He could be in a good position coming back and having learned a lot in other places.
“It can be that you can improve having been somewhere else then returning to the place you started.
“I am sure that Sergio’s contract is watertight, and he will be there for a long time but if relationships deteriorate, sometimes it becomes unworkable, and the suspicion is Max has quite a lot of power in that team.”
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Ricciardo made his Formula 1 debut as a Red Bull-back driver in 2011 with the now defunct HRT team before starting his first full-time season the following year with Toro Rosso.
Two years in the junior team were enough to convince Red Bull Racing to promote him in the place of the retiring Mark Webber in 2014 to partner reigning four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who he beat in their first years as teammates.
Ricciardo scored seven of his eight career victories with RBR, including the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018, but the team was never a match Mercedes in ultimate competitiveness.
Meanwhile Verstappen, who arrived at the team in 2016, was in the ascendancy, and the team was increasingly building itself around the prodigious Dutchman.
Ricciardo made the decision to forge his own path with Renault from 2019.
Though he struggled to adapt at first, his 2020 season is a candidate for his best ever in the sport, with a pair of unlikely podiums in a thoroughly midfield machine the highlight.
But for 2021 he made the ill-fated move to McLaren, where he’s failed to meld his driving style with the car’s innate characteristics. Only his victory at the Italian Grand Prix last year stands out as an exception.
