Teammates soon?
Max Verstappen is pleased to see Daniel Ricciardo back in Formula 1 and thinks there are opportunities for his old teammate. It is now up to Ricciardo to prove himself, but Verstappen is ready to form a team together again.
Daniel Ricciardo gets a second chance to prove himself in Formula 1 and at his old trusted nest in the Red Bull family. Not at Red Bull itself, for the time being, but at sister team AlphaTauri. In any case, within the ‘family’ he was welcomed with open arms by former teammate Max Verstappen. Of course last year when Ricciardo was confirmed as the third driver, but also now that he is getting back into the car in Hungary. “I didn’t want him to leave at all. We get along very well,” said a smiling Verstappen during the press conference in Hungary. Ricciardo himself left Red Bull after the 2018 season.
There is now a possible route for Ricciardo to rejoin the team alongside Max. A good start would be to trump Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen sees opportunities for Ricciardo: “If Daniel does well where he is now, then of course there are opportunities to come back. To be honest, it’s all open.”
The 25-year-old two-time world champion believes that Ricciardo is now in a better mindset than last year, when it all stopped working at McLaren. According to NU.nl explains Verstappen: “I think he just needed a break. The longer he was with us, I saw him smile a little more and become more familiar within the team. I think that just happened automatically. And of course, if you’ve had two years that things didn’t go well, it’s quite normal that someone needs some time to take some distance. Then you come back stronger. “
First chance in 2025?
It seems for now that, even if Ricciardo were to convince in the AlphaTauri for the rest of this season, he would not get the chance to drive for Red Bull Racing again until 2025. Sergio Pérez still has a contract until next year and team boss Christian Horner was also very clear about it earlier this week; according to him, ‘Max and Checo are of course just the drivers for Red Bull for next year’. “He wants himself pitch for the 2025 seat at Red Bull, that is his golden goal. At AlphaTauri, he believes he has his best chance of proving himself before 2025,” said Horner.
.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl