Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
Following the British GP, Ricciardo will get in the RB19 with a chance to earn a spot back on the grid
Silverstone is set to hose the present of Formula 1, as the grid descends on the legendary circuit for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
However, later next week it may play host to F1’s potential future.
Red Bull reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo is set to participate in Pirelli’s tyre test following the British Grand Prix, where he will get behind the wheel of the RB19 for the first time this season. Ricciardo’s test session comes are there is increased speculation regarding his future in F1, and perhaps finding a seat with AlphaTauri for the 2024 campaign.
Ricciardo lost his seat with McLaren last season, when the team signed Oscar Piastri to his seat following a battle with Alpine for Piastri’s services. While Ricciardo talked with some teams in the midfield regarding a seat for the 2023 season, he decided that he needed a bit of “distance” from the grid this year.
Speaking on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo had this to say:
“There was a couple of times where [Ferrari] was linked. But, I think coming back to a seat next year as Guenther [Steiner, Haas Team Principal] said, he reached out and stuff.
“The more… days that passed and, especially as I did the triple-header to get back into the second half of the season – so three days on the bounce – it became more and more clear that it wasn’t about what phone call I was receiving; it was about me acknowledging that I just ultimately don’t want to be competing next year.
“So, in a way I am glad that, let’s say, a top team didn’t reach out, because it’s one of those ones where you probably feel, ‘Oh, I’ve got to sign it’, but I think deep down I was just craving a bit of distance.”
That distance led to a reserve role with Red Bull, but over the past few months the driver has begun to regain both his form, and his desire to return to the grid. Speaking with Race Fans recently, Riccardo had this to say about an eventual return:
“By the end of last year, I was not sure if I would want to come back,” he explains. “I was very open-minded to, ‘okay, maybe I spend Christmas at home and I’m like yeah, I’m happy with this life now, I’m going to go and pursue something else’. But I knew probably already in March that I don’t feel done, I don’t feel retired.
“I think as well there’s a part of me – and this might sound like ego, but it’s certainly not – I don’t want my book to close that way. I don’t really care too much about legacy, but I feel like it’s not the way that I should go out and I feel like I can still give more. So if I get the right opportunity, of course I would love to do that.”
And his current bosses are praising his work in the simulator, and how Ricciardo has regained the form that led to eight victories in F1.
“When he first arrived (back at Red Bull) after Abu Dhabi last year, it was a little bit of a shock because we didn’t really recognise him from the driver that had left us a few years earlier,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. “But he seems to have refound his mojo, he’s been working hard on the simulator, he’s now extremely competitive in what he’s doing in the virtual world.”
“So whether that crosses over into the real world we’ll see, albeit at a tyre test, we’ll get an impression as to the level he’s performing at,” added Horner. “But certainly you can see there’s a spring coming back in his step.”
“We will have Ricciardo in the car for three days after Silverstone during the tyre test and then you can evaluate where Ricciardo really stands,” said Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko to Austrian news outlet ORF ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.
As for where Ricciardo could land if that test goes well? All current signs point to Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri. Currently Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries have the two seats there, but while Tsunoda has performed well this year, De Vries is under increasing pressure to up his game.
Earlier this year Marko gave De Vries the “yellow card,” warning him to improve his form. But while that did result in a step forward, with a 12th-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix, since then De Vries has finished 14th, 18th, and 17th.
Those recent struggles have led to Marko upping the ante a bit — sharing on the Inside Line F1 Podcast that he and Horner did not agree on De Vries, and that Horner looks to be right — and some drivers getting in on the act. Following the Austrian Grand Prix, when De Vries had another dust-up on the track with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, the Haas veteran noted that De Vries might be driving for his “future.”
Now Horner himself has joined in the fray. Speaking in Austria regarding Ricciardo, the Red Bull boss had this to say:
“Well, it’s still very early days, you know, for next year, and I think that Daniel is under contract for the year,” Horner told reporters in Austria when asked if Ricciardo could find himself at AlphaTauri in 2024.
“He’s going to be driving our car for the first time after the British Grand Prix [as part of a three-day test] and he’s obviously a world-class driver. He’s won what, seven [eight, sic] grands prix in his career to date?
“So I think the first thing will be to see how he performs and where his motivation is, and then from there, it’s a question for AlphaTauri as to, you know, their choices for the following season.”
So, Silverstone could be the site of something massive for F1’s future.
But it starts with how Ricciardo performs in the RB19.
