The speculation over Lewis Hamilton’s torrid negotiations with. Mercedes to continue his career with the Silver Arrows team has dwindled to the odd article. Toto Wolff claimed last time out that the contract was “emotionally done”, though what exactly this gobbledegook means is anyone’s guess.
The Mercedes boss over the summer break announced his number two in Jerome D’Ambrosio who had been managing the German brands Formula E team. Wolff jokingly suggested the bar to succeed him as mercedes team principal was not too high given that only “50%” of his own race weekend interventions were worthy of note according to James Vowles.
Ricciardo to asses AlphaTaurui “major update”
More worthy of note is the accelerating Red Bull racing story and whether Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda will remain with their respective teams into 2024.
The Japanese driver in his third year in Formula One as yet has not faced a top quality F1 driver as a team mate prior to the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo to replace the somewhat unlucky Nyck de Vries.
AlphaTauri have Brough a significant upgrade tooth’s weekends Dutch GP and it is Daniel Ricciardo rather than Tsunoda the team are looking to to provide the feed back as Dr. Helmut Marko now reveals.
“There will be a major update at Alpha Tauri and we will see whether the direction is right,” said Marko ahead of the Zandvoort weekend.
“A driver like Ricciardo will of course help enormously as he tells you exactly what is good and which updates are useless.”
Ricciardo v Verstappen return
Riccardo’s formative years in Formula One were with the Red Bull family driving for both Toro Rosso and then replacing the retiring Mark Webber at Red Bull alongside Sebastian Vettel.
His performance against the world champion was immediately impressive such that Vettel decided when the call came for Ferrari his time with the Milton Keynes based squad was up.
Racing alongside Verstappen for the best part of three seasons, Ricciardo acquitted himself well and Verstappen only finished ahead of the Australian once in the drivers’ championship.
While its unusual for the junior Red Bull team to recruit an experienced driver like Daniel, the performance of the team has been woeful this season and his role for the rest of the season is to benchmark the real capabilities of the car.
Wolff indicates he may retire soon
Marko meets Ricciardo during summer break
However, the real story is whether Red Bull intend to replace the highly erratic Sergio Perez with the Australian for a 2024 season where the chasing midfield may be much closer to the Red Bull team.
They can afford to carry a second driver who scores just around half of Verstappen’s points while the RB19 is uber dominant, but should a challenger emerge from the current chasing pack and push Red Bull hard, the team would need someone who is closer in terms of results to Verstappen than Perez has been capable of delivering this season.
During the summer break Daniel Ricciardo travelled Europe with his girlfriend Heidi Burger who is the daughter of ex-F1 and Ferrari driver and one of the stops on their road trip was the Austrian resort of Kitzbuhel.
The couple apparently made the two 2:45(h:mm) from Kitzbuhel journey to Gratz for dinner with the Red Bull consultant Dr. Marko who confirmed the meeting in Zandvoort.
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Ricciardo future in Red Bull family secure
“We saw each other,” Marko confirmed. “That’s clear when he comes to Graz.
“He (Ricciardo) has a very positive personality, a successful career and incredible experience. His momentum and vigour caused a real jolt at Alpha Tauri. It was a real boost of motivation,” revealed the 80 year old Austrian.
Such a glowing reference suggests that Ricciardo while only guaranteed to the end of the season with AlphaTauri, will at worst be there next year aswell.
However, Dr. Marko, always one to stir the pot ,chooses to again put a rocket up Sergio Perez rear end as he makes particularly clear the Mexican’s future is uncertain despite his contract option for 2024.
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Perez Red Bull future ‘uncertain’
“Nothing is 100 percent certain in Formula 1,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung when asked whether Perez has a job guarantee for next year.
“It just doesn’t exist,” added Marko emphatically.
Surprisingly despite ten more races left in the season, this is a current topic under discussion at Red Bull as they head to the first race after the summer break.
“There are always performance-related situations somewhere that need to be discussed. We’ll take a look and discuss how to proceed in Zandvoort, then we’ll know more,” Red Bull consultant added.
McLaren boss questions Red Bull new engine programme
Ricciardo claims ‘front row’ grid time
Formula One drivers rarely get to test the current car during an F1 season due to the FIA restrictions, yet because Pirelli have been working towards delivering tyres which do not need to be pre-heated this rule has been waived this year.
This gave Red Bull the opportunity to have a look at Ricciardo in Sergio Perez’s car following the British GP. ChrstianHorner since claimed by just lap 11 the Australian delivered a tee that would have put him on the front row of the grid at Silverstone just two days earlier.
The implication was not lost on anyone that Perez had only qualified his RB19 15th for the Silverstone race.
Corporate Renault will quit F1
Ricciardo BIG claim about Red Bull future
Despite a rough two years at McLaren where he struggled to drive the counter intuitive papaya liveried car, Daniel Ricciardo is back on form according to the Red Bull team’s revelations.
This being the case, it is inconceivable he will not replace Perez for 2024 unless the Mexican driver brings home a strong of podium finishes over the next ten Formula One weekends.
Add to this Ricciardo asserted in Zandvoort, “I’m going to finish my F1 career with the red Bull family.”
READ MORE: Dutch GP contract extension under threat
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F1 Streams 2023#Formula1 #DutchGP #Formula1 #ProudToBeDutch #Zandvoort#F1Streamingpic.twitter.com/VhRYUuDhJA— muhammad zaini (@starzmrex) August 25, 2023
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