Ricciardo as Verstappen's teammate? 'He was no better than Tsunoda'

Martin Brundle does not see Daniel Ricciardo returning to Red Bull Racing straight away. According to the former F1 driver, the Australian needs to show much more next season than in recent times.

In the Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo once again made no secret of it: he wants to finish his F1 career at Red Bull Racing. His return to AlphaTauri has given him the confidence to look ahead again, and in the coming years, he is aiming for the seat next to Max Verstappen. Brundle has strong doubts about whether that will happen.

Could Ricciardo return at Red Bull Racing?

"I don't think Daniel has perhaps outperformed Tsunoda as I would have expected him to. I know he was thrown in at the deep end and he was really unlucky with that incident in Zandvoort. So the jury is out on that. And you have to say McLaren replaced him with Piastri, at some cost and pain, and that proved to be a pretty smart move, didn't it? So for me, Daniel's got a lot more to do before I would think that he's ready to go and take the fight to Max Verstappen," Brundle said in a Sky Sports Q&A.

In the eight times Ricciardo competed for AlphaTauri in 2023, Yuki Tsunoda was better than the eight-time race winner. Tsunoda won the qualifying duel 4-3 and an average difference of 0.166s. In the races, Tsunoda also finished ahead of Ricciardo more often (4-2) and the Japanese driver also scored more points in the eight races they raced together: 15 to 6.

Sergio Perez's contract expires at the end of 2024 and Ricciardo, at 34 (he turns 35 in July), will hope to get the chance to return to his old team then, but Red Bull will also keep its eyes open for other options. Many drivers' contracts expire in 2024, which means there is quite a lot possible for the world champion.