- Ricciardo stepped away from racing for 2023, having departed McLaren with one year remaining on his contract.
- In a statement, Red Bull said Ricciardo had delivered strong times during a tire test at Silverstone on Tuesday.
- Rather than leave F1 to test the waters in other series, Ricciardo took a job with Red Bull for 2023 to act as the team's third driver.
Daniel Ricciardo will return to Formula 1 for the remainder of the season after AlphaTauri released Nyck de Vries after just 10 races.
Ricciardo stepped away from racing for 2023, having departed McLaren with one year remaining on his contract, but will climb back into the cockpit for AlphaTauri at the Hungaroring in Hungary on July 23.
The move comes in the wake of AlphaTauri releasing rookie de Vries just 10 events into season.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team,” said Franz Tost, AlphaTauri team principal. “There’s no doubt about his driving skill, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight-forward.
“The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner. I would like to thank Nyck for his valuable contribution during his time with Scuderia AlphaTauri, and I wish him all the best for the future.”
In a statement, Red Bull said Ricciardo had delivered strong times during a tire test at Silverstone on Tuesday.
“It is great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in his simulator sessions translate on track,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “His times during the tire test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at AlphaTauri.”
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, who controls AlphaTauri’s driver line-up, moved to sign de Vries after an impressive points-scoring debut with Williams in Italy last year, when he was a late replacement for the sidelined Alex Albon.
That came in the aftermath of AlphaTauri agreeing to release Pierre Gasly from his 2023 contract in order to take up a seat at Alpine.
De Vries joined AlphaTauri as a rookie but at the age of 28 had vast experience from spells in Formula 2, Formula E and sports cars.
De Vries has failed to pick up a point, with his cause accentuated by AlphaTauri’s lackluster AT04, though he struggled compared to teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who has been a regular feature of Formula 1’s lower midfield and has twice breached the top 10.
Marko, who has a track record of making ruthless decisions, has now opted to undertake a change with immediate effect.
It brings an unexpectedly early return to the grid for Ricciardo, who left McLaren by mutual consent at the end of 2022, and opted to take up a third driver role at Red Bull rather than chase potential openings further down the grid.
It brought eight-time race winner Ricciardo back into the Red Bull family as an ambassador, while allowing him to take a break from Formula 1’s busy schedule, as he explored his 2024 options.
His return to the field comes with the team he raced for in 2012-13, when it operated as Toro Rosso, though he will do so with modest expectations.
Ricciardo struggled for performance at McLaren in 2022, prompting an early termination of his contract, while AlphaTauri has endured a dismal season and is rooted to the rear of the 10-team Constructors’ Championship.
It nonetheless gives Red Bull the opportunity to assess Ricciardo’s current ability, and provide a benchmark for third-year driver Tsunoda, for the remainder of the season.
Ricciardo's promotion will also take him away from his studio role on the Formula 1 alternate ESPN broadcast, The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett.
ESPN put out the following statement on Tuesday:
“Congratulations to Daniel. We heard this news today when everyone else did. We have more than three months until the next edition of “The Grandstand” at the United States Grand Prix in Austin so we’ll take our time and figure out the next steps.”
