Lewis Hamilton’s thoughts on Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 return are already clear with the Mercedes star having shared his views on the Australian last season. Hamilton came to the defence of Ricciardo after the eight-time race winner was ditched by McLaren last summer.
Hamilton claimed the 34-year-old should still be on the grid as the seven-time champion suggested his talents would be wasted as a reserve driver. The Briton weighed into the matter after Ricciardo was linked with a potential move to Mercedes as the team’s third driver for 2023.
He said: “I think he should be racing, personally. I think he’s far too talented and he’s earned the right to be amongst us all racing. If he’s part of our team that’d be great, but a third role is not really what’s best for him.
“If I was managing him, he’d be racing.” Ricciardo grinned through Hamilton’s assessment before agreeing with Hamilton that he wanted to be on the grid.
He replied: “As Lewis said, I do want to be on the grid, I do want to race. I touched on a few weeks ago that although this has been a challenging time in my career it hasn’t taken the love of the sport away from me and that desire to still be here and still compete.”
Ricciardo secured a reserved role at Red Bull for 2023 and took part in a series of demonstration runs and sim sessions for the team. However, he will make his race return in Hungary after impressing Red Bull bosses at a post-British Grand Prix Pirelli tyre test and being asked to replace Nyck De Vries at AlphaTauri.
It is believed Ricciardo went so fast on Tuesday that his lap time would have put him on the front row of the grid for last Sunday’s Grand Prix. Dutch star De Vries has been axed after just 10 races this season with Ricciardo set to join Red Bull’s junior squad at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
De Vries was one of two drivers to fail to score points this season while he only beat team-mate Yuki Tsunoda twice on race days. Ricciardo is delighted at being able to make his race return so soon after leaving the grid at the end of last season.
He commented: “I’m stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family.” Meanwhile, AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost admitted he was thrilled to have Ricciardo under his wing.
Tost added: “There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward.”