F1 News: Helmut Marko Opens Door to Daniel Ricciardo For Red Bull Seat

Daniel Ricciardo just "has to perform" to gain a Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen.

Making his comeback race with AlphaTauri and kicking off from 13th position, Daniel Ricciardo has shown promising signs on his return to F1 . However, as Helmut Marko, Red Bull's advisor, has clearly stated, if the self-proclaimed Honey Badger is eyeing a comeback to the Red Bull team, he “has to perform”.

While Ricciardo's performance is noteworthy in both qualifying and today's race, Marko has reminded fans that their Mexican driver is still safe with a contract until the end of 2024. But, that doesn't mean that Perez won't be under pressure from the newly appointed AlphaTauri driver.

“On Friday the engineers were almost euphoric about the great feedback they received from Ricciardo," Helmut told F1-Insider.

He continued:

“If Ricciardo wants to come back to us, he has to perform."

It is no secret that fans of the sport are happy to see Ricciardo back on the track, and many are wanting him to replace Checo after his stint of poor races.

"The contract with Perez runs until 2024” Marko reaffirmed, while also adding some heat to the pot. “Perez has to improve.

“We told him to just concentrate and not always look at Max. He just needs to be a little more relaxed.”

The Hungarian Grand Prix marked Ricciardo's return to the F1 racing track, eight months after his previous stint with McLaren. And despite being hit on the very first corner of the race, he finished higher than his teammate Yuki Tsunoda after a notable P13 place in Saturday's qualifying. 

With such a strong return from Ricciardo, Marko couldn't resist expressing his satisfaction. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, the Red Bull advisor said: 

“At AlphaTauri you can smile again. Daniel’s performance was surprisingly strong, there has been a real upswing in the team.”