Could a return to Red Bull be on the cards for Daniel Ricciardo?
Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz certainly believes so, revealing the Australian is no longer expected to join Mercedes as a reserve driver, leaving Ricciardo’s former team as a likely landing spot.
“I’ve got some good news for Daniel Ricciardo fans,” Kravitz said after Ricciardo’s Q1 exit at the United States Grand Prix.
“He might not have a race drive for next year, but I do understand he has closed out a reserve driver drive next year. So he told us on Thursday, he will be around about the F1 paddock next year.”
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Asked which team, Kravitz said. “We thought Mercedes, because they now have a vacancy given that Nyck De Vries, their reserve driver is going to Alpha Tauri. I’m told it’s not Mercedes. So that only leaves Red Bull, the (only two) teams who have a reserve driver on hand at every race.”
“I thought for him he’d be better having a clean break and then coming back,” Martin Brundle said, reacting to the news.
“Maybe it’s just keeping your foot in the door somewhere, doing some simulated work but trudging around a Formula 1 track not participating… you need a pretty tough mindset for that.”
Ricciardo, who is being replaced by fellow Australian Oscar Piastri at McLaren next year, hinted earlier in the week that he would be remaining in the F1 in 2023.
“You will see me around,” Ricciardo said.
“It’s going to look different for me, but there is still very much still a plan in place.
“So, it’s not that I am checking out and saying ‘see you later’, it’s far from that.
“I’m just putting in a plan to honestly try to get me back to the front of the grid and win races and do all the stuff I know I can do.”
Ricciardo had said earlier in the month that he “needs” a break from the Formula 1 to “reset” for 2024, with it widely reported he would take up a reserve role with Mercedes.
Now though it looks like Ricciardo could return to Red Bull, where he was teammates with world champion Max Verstappen across the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Verstappen’s father Jos said to the Formula 1 magazine earlier in the week that the 25-year-old Dutch star benefited from his time with Ricciardo.
“I do think maybe he learnt the most from Daniel Ricciardo, a nice peer he got on very well with. Max was a young guy then and Ricciardo really good, a qualifying beast,” Jos said.
