18 December 2023 , 19:18
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Martin Brundle has been left underwhelmed by Daniel Ricciardo since his return to the Formula 1 grid.
The Aussie sat out the first 10 races of 2023 having been axed by McLaren after two years. But his new role as a reserve back at his old Red Bull team put him in prime position to get back into the thick of the action when sister team AlphaTauri cut ties with Nyck de Vries.
A hand injury at Zandvoort meant he missed five more races but Ricciardo completed seven full race weekends by the end of the year. And he secured his team's best result of 2023 in the process by finishing seventh in Mexico.
That was, though, the 34-year-old's only top-10 result. Indeed, team-mate Yuki Tsunoda more than held his own against his much more experienced partner as the Japanese racer rose to the challenge to finish the year strongly.
Both stars will continue to race for the junior Red Bull outfit in 2024. And Ricciardo has made it clear that he wants to use it as a springboard to return to the seat alongside Max Verstappen that he willingly vacated five years ago.
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Brundle, however, has not yet seen enough of the Aussie to know that he is worthy of that place with the top team. Answering a fan's query in a question and answer session, the Sky Sports F1 pundit made clear he would have liked to have seen a little more from Ricciardo.
"I don't think Daniel has perhaps outperformed Tsunoda as I would have expected him to," said Brundle. "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 [Oscar] 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."
Ricciardo is currently in pole position to replace Sergio Perez should Red Bull decide to make a change. The Mexican finished second behind only Verstappen in the standings this year, but made hard work of it despite having the best car on the grid.
If Perez's patchy form continues into 2024 and it proves more costly to the team, Red Bull may feel they have to make a mid-season change - the sort of move they have made many times before. Ricciardo and Tsunoda would both like to get the call-up in that case, though the Aussie's experience gives him the advantage.