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Australian F1 legend: 'Ricciardo has lost chance of Red Bull return'
- GPblog.com
In 2023, Sergio Perez did not perform entirely optimally. The Mexican was wrecked by his teammate Max Verstappen, and he also suffered the most damage to his car during the Formula 1 season apart from Logan Sargeant. There were many rumours that another driver would drive alongside Verstappen in Checo's place. Daniel Ricciardo was one of the drivers mentioned as a replacement for the six-time race winner, but Australian Formula One legend Alan Jones thinks it may be too late for that move.
Ricciardo had to settle for the role of reserve driver at Red Bull Racing at the start of the 2023 season. In July, it was announced that Nyck de Vries was not allowed to continue at AlphaTauri, and that the Australian could take over the Dutchman's seat. At Zandvoort, the 'Honey Badger' was injured, forcing him to miss several races. He eventually finished seventeenth in the drivers' championship.
Jones thinks Ricciardo has lost chance of Red Bull seat
Despite driving relatively little, Ricciardo did impress in several race weekends. There was therefore talk of a transfer to Red Bull in 2024, but this did not materialise. For 2025, the battle for the seat next to Verstappen is still open, but Jones thinks it is too late, he told the Daily Mail: "I honestly believe Daniel's probably lost the chance of getting back to Red Bull."
Jones continued: "I think at one stage, Daniel was too preoccupied with the bulls**t going on outside the cockpit as opposed to what was going on inside the cockpit. think he even realised that he was probably being... not led astray, but I think he was letting his mind wander a little bit on other things other than Formula 1, and he needs to get back to the core of what he's good at, and that's driving a Formula 1 car."