F1 Insider Hints At Sergio Perez Move As Daniel Ricciardo Applies Pressure
F1 presenter Will Buxton has analysed how the move to bring Daniel Ricciardo back impacts Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
The news that has taken over the F1 community this week is that Nyck de Vries has left AlphaTauri, and Daniel Ricciardo is set to replace him. As per Red Bull and AlphaTauri motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, de Vries' lack of improvement led to this switch. A recent test run at Silverstone, where Ricciardo set a stellar timing, played a part in this decision.
Buxton mused on this in his social media post, stating:
“Happy for Daniel [Ricciardo] but exceptionally harsh on Nyck [de Vries]. As I’ve said, think this has more to do with applying pressure to PER [Sergio Perez] while assessing potential RIC [Ricciardo] return to [Red Bull Racing], or how TSU [Yuki Tsunoda] fares against a known quantity, than Nyck himself.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise if Ricciardo ends up back at RBR. No line-up since his departure has been as strong as him and Max [Verstappen].
“How the rest of the field could shake up makes for an intriguing bit of mental gymnastics.
“[Liam] Lawson to AT [AlphaTauri] makes complete sense as a strong option for ’24.
“As for Checo [Perez], how about a dream return to team Silverstone alongside [Fernando] Alonso at Aston [Martin]?
“And De Vries gets on the phone to former Merc colleague James Vowles and returns to Williams alongside [Alex] Albon.”
The attention now turns to Ricciardo at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After driving the top-performing Red Bull RB19 at Silverstone, Ricciardo now prepares to steer the less formidable AlphaTauri AT04.
The Italian team are currently in tenth position in the constructors' standings with just two points behind Alfa Romeo with nine points. The team will be aiming to move up the standings with the experienced Australian driver on the line-up.