F1 Rumour: Daniel Ricciardo Signed 2024 AlphaTauri Contract After British Grand Prix
AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo announced after the Japanese Grand Prix that he would be racing with the team alongside Yuki Tsunoda in 2024. The Red Bull sister team extended the contracts of both drivers for next season. However, we know from the recent Pit Talk podcast that Ricciardo's contract extension for 2024 was supposedly signed almost three months ago after the British Grand Prix.
Ricciardo surprised several fans and teams through his Formula 1 return announcement with AlphaTauri, days before the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Australian racing driver replaced Nyck De Vries, who struggled to earn points for the team.
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AlphaTauri announced that Ricciardo would join the team on loan from Red Bull Racing for the remainder of the 2023 season, starting from the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, there was no mention of his role for 2024.
Last weekend though, the 34-year-old driver, currently undergoing therapy for an injury to his left metacarpal, told the press that he was "stoked" to continue racing alongside Yuki Tsunoda for 2024, thus hinting at a contract extension for the following year. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost also revealed the news, stating that the extension gave the team a competitive pairing for 2024.
However, the latest episode of Fox Sports' Pit Talk podcast featuring Australia's Michael Lamonato, Speedcafe's Mat Coch, and Ian Parkes, famous for a 'look behind the curtain,' revealed that Ricciardo signed his 2024 contract around the same time as his onboarding into AlphTauri in July. The formality of the announcement was completed last weekend. It said:
"I take this as confirmation of Daniel. Ultimately, I have reason to believe that he signed that contract [for 2024] at Silverstone a couple of days after the British Grand Prix. I think it was locked in at that point, having spoken to his manager a few times during that period, although Blake would never tell me.
"Yeah, all I’ll say is that his dentist does an excellent job because he did a lot of smiling. Must have taken a leaf out of Daniel's book on that one. But yeah, there was quiet confidence there for a long time, but it was great that we have that confirmation now.
"And it also explains why Red Bull has not been in a hurry, why Daniel hasn't been in a hurry to jump back in that car and to really rush things with his recovery because he's never needed to. He's confident in that he knows his future.
"Right now, the best thing that he can do is put himself in the shop window next year. This year doesn't matter. So just get yourself right, get yourself back to full fitness, or very close to it, so that anything that's happening in his hand doesn't impact his driving, doesn't detract from his driving, because doing that, all he's doing is setting himself up to make that job harder.
"His sole job now is to impress Helmut Marko and Christian Horner to the point where it's a no-brainer for them come this time next year. Yeah, that's his sole job. He doesn't need to do anything else, everything else between now and then is a bonus."
Either way, the truth is that Ricciardo, who might be back in his AT04 F1 car in Austin, is spending 2024 with AlphaTauri.
