Helmut Marko warns Daniel Ricciardo after Red Bull boss authorised his F1 return
Daniel Ricciardo has been warned he will have his work cut out impressing his Red Bull bosses in an uncompetitive AlphaTauri car.
The Aussie will be back on the Formula 1 grid later this month at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He replaced Nyck de Vries, who was axed by the ruthless Helmut Marko after 10 races without scoring a point.
Ricciardo will be delighted at the chance to prove he still has what it takes to compete at this level. The 34-year-old had his McLaren career cut short by a year given his struggles to get results.
He has 12 races with AlphaTauri to show that he has rediscovered his best form. However, it will be difficult to catch the eye too much given the car he inherits from De Vries is arguably the slowest on the grid.
The Dutchman didn't score a point and Yuki Tsunoda, despite the general consensus that he has had an excellent season so far, has only managed two himself. As a result, AlphaTauri sit rock bottom of the constructors' championship.
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After approving Ricciardo's return, following a successful test at Silverstone on Tuesday, Marko laid out the situation for the driver. "His lap times were competitive on three different tyre sets – if Ricciardo hadn't had the speed, we would have considered something else," he told De Telegraaf.
"But AlphaTauri is not in a good position, last in the constructors' standings, so we have to do something to bring something about. That often happens after a driver change, and Ricciardo brings new energy to the team.
"We have to see from Ricciardo how he compares to Tsunoda. I think Yuki is underestimated by a lot of people. The AlphaTauri is not the easiest car to drive, but Yuki has proven that it is possible to achieve good results."
Dr Marko has reminded Ricciardo that his task will be a challenging one (Getty Images)Marko also discussed the decision to axe De Vries, bluntly stating that the 28-year-old had not lived up to performance expectations. The Austrian, 80, added: "We expected him to be at least equal to his team-mate this year, but that wasn't the case. Actually, he was always three-tenths slower.
"We didn't see any improvement. He is 28 years old, has a lot of experience and also a lot of knowledge as a test driver in various F1 cars. I don't think you can compare him to a young rookie. At the end of April in Baku, he started the weekend well and I thought he was going to perform better, but then he crashed again.
"Unfortunately, he never once did a super lap that amazed us. So we had to do something. Why should we wait and what difference do two more races make if you don’t see any improvement? Nyck is a very nice guy, but the speed just wasn't there."
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