Daniel Ricciardo cops devastating blow to his F1 comeback ambition from from Red Bull’s top boss

Daniel Ricciardo wants a permanent drive for Red Bull and has outlined a plan to ensure it happens. But an unexpected slap down may have just killed his chances.

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Oracle Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo has outlined his desire to fight his way back into a seat at Red Bull racing, declaring he’d only take a start with sister team AlphaTauri if it was a short-term pathway to driving for the top team again.

As Ricciardo prepares to take part in the Pirelli test day for Red Bull at Silverstone this week, where his lap times will almost certainly decide his future in the sport, the Australian has boldly spoken about getting back to the top of the sport again.

“I’m remaining open-minded,” Ricciardo told Crash.net about potentially racing with AlphaTauri next year.

“If it’s like ‘this is you and you are signing a three-year deal and that’s the only place you are going to be’, then no, that’s maybe not the deal I would look for.

“But if there’s the possibility to obviously be here (Red Bull)… The truth is this is where I want to be. I’m not going to weave my way around it.

“If that creates a path to get back here then yeah it’s something I would look at because ultimately this is the place where I want to get back to.”

HORNER SHUTS RICCIARDO RUMOURS DOWN

As much as Ricciardo is hoping of a fairytale comeback to Red Bull, the team he won seven of his eight F1 victories with between 2014 and 2018, the reality is team boss Christian Horner and senior advisor Helmut Marko are far from convinced.

“No one available,” the brutal three words Marko delivered when asked if Sergio Perez could be replaced by the Aussie.

A sentiment echoed by Horner at Silverstone this weekend.

“It’s not something that we’re planning, that’s for certain,” the team principal said.

“So, it was right to give him the opportunity this year to remain within the team and keep him around the sport.

Daniel Ricciardo will be driving the RB19 this week

“I think it would have been a loss to the sport for him just to disappear and, I think, I didn’t recognise the Daniel of the last couple of years so I’ll be very interested to see what kind of job he does on Tuesday.

“It’s an important test for Pirelli but it’s also going to be great to see him back in a Red Bull car and see what he can do.

“Where he’s at, both on pace and mentally, physically and to get his feedback on this car as well. So I think it’s a good opportunity for him to get back behind the wheel of a car that’s just won the British Grand Prix.”

MARKO’S SUBTLE SLEDGE

The reason there is so much interest in Ricciardo right now is the twin failings of Sergio Perez at Red Bull and Nyke de Vries at Alpha Tauri.

Even as Red Bull’s No.2 driver Perez produced a fifth consecutive qualifying flop to virtually gift teammate Max Verstappen the world title, Marko shot down scuttlebutt the Mexican could be replaced in the team.

“Perez needs to get a grip on his qualifications,” Marko told Sky Sport.

“It has always been a weakness of his. It just happens too often and he has to work on that.

“We’re also going to work on it, because if one driver is in front and the other 16th, something isn’t right.

“He is second in the standings and delivers good races, which distinguishes him from Nyck de Vries. At the moment there is no need to take action. There is also no one available to replace him.”

It is that final sentence that spells disaster for Ricciardo. Either it’s a classic Red Bull smokescreen, or the Australian has not performed strongly in the simulator work and is actually finished in the eyes of his bosses.

Perez, who finished sixth on Sunday to remain second in the driver standings but a whopping 99 points behind Verstappen, is confident he won’t lose his job despite his recent struggles.

“In F1 in 13 years, I’ve seen it all,” he said.

“So, I am not worried about any of that. I’m mainly focused about getting my season back on track and making sure I keep enjoying this.

“I have full support from Helmut (Marko) and Christian (Horner). The whole team is fully supporting me, they know what I can do, they know my potential, and they are fully behind me.”

Sergio Perez has flopped in qualifying through the last five races

WILLING TO WAIT

Ever the optimist, Ricciardo refuses to concede defeat in his F1 career.

Perez is contracted next season and although he knows every year off the grid makes it harder to win a permanent seat, the 34-year-old is patient.

“I’d love to get back on the grid next year,” he said.

“If things didn’t turn out the way I’d like and I’m on the sidelines again next year, it’s not my Plan A but I wouldn’t freak out.

“I look at (Nico) Hulkenberg, who’s been on the sidelines a few years - obviously done the odd race here and there - but he’s been pretty awesome this year. So I’m not concerned that I’ll ‘lose it’.

“Obviously, I’m not getting younger though, so I don’t want to miss too much. Because I also don’t want to be (Fernando) Alonso and in my forties doing it.

“If the team is like ‘well you can sit out next year and you have a seat for the year after’ I’d be like ‘alright sweet, of course I’ll sit out’. But I’d love to race.”

TITLE BATTLE HEATS UP

Erebus Motorsport chief Barry Ryan has turned up the heat in his squad’s Supercars title fight with Triple Eight, declaring he wants to “kick their ar*e” as he took a cheeky dig at his rival’s team orders drama in Townsville.

Ryan’s drivers Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki remain first and second in the Supercars championship standings, ahead of Triple Eight pair Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen at the mid-way point of the season.

Brown won the opening race in Townsville to take the championship lead from his teammate, while Kostecki claimed second place in Sunday’s race behind Ford’s Anton De Pasquale after struggling with a transaxle issue on Saturday.

Ryan said he was determined to keep his drivers out in front in the title battle.

“We are in a big fight with Red Bull at the moment, it’s a bit of fun,” Ryan said.

“We want to make sure we kick their arse for the rest of the year.”

And Ryan could not help delivering a cheeky swipe at the “entertaining” team orders drama which played out over the Triple Eight airwaves late in Sunday’s race.

Van Gisbergen was left frustrated after passing Feeney late in the race for fourth place only to be informed by the team he would have to hand the position back if he could not catch third-placed Andre Heimgartner.

Daniel Ricciardo has made no secret of his desire to return to Red Bull

The triple Supercars champion eventually followed the team’s directive, backing off before the finish line to allow Feeney to pass.

Van Gisbergen, who had fought back from starting last on the grid, later said on social media he understood the team’s decision after admitting it was hard to “swallow some things” in the “heat of the moment behind the wheel”.

Ryan said he found the Triple Eight tensions amusing.

“I always scan the other teams so it was entertaining and funny,” Ryan said.

“I’m glad that I haven’t got a team arguing like they were in the last few laps.

“It’s pretty easy with these two guys, they look after each other. Will and Brodie know what to do on track and if they come across each other, if somebody else is faster, they just let each other pass because it just holds up the team, not just the individual.

“It’s pretty easy to manage these guys and if they (Triple Eight) are having more arguments they are going slower, so that’s good.”

PARITY DRAMA NOT OVER YET

Ford’s Anton De Pasquale broke through to take Ford’s first chequered flag of the year in Townsville, but there is still concern in the Blue Oval camp on the parity front.

Grove Racing team owner Stephen Grove revealed there would be more parity testing to come this week as he continued to raise concerns over rear tyre life.

After a Supercars review, the Mustangs were granted aerodynamic tweaks for the round in Townsville after an official trigger was hit in Darwin.

But Grove said in an official Ford release tyre deterioration remained a serious issue.

“It is still extremely frustrating,” Grove said.

“We think we’ve got a fast car over one lap, and the changes have made an impact, but the car still doesn’t look after the rear tyres.

“We had good one-lap pace, but overall the deterioration of the tyres was a problem for us. It’s just the race pace that is not there.

“Until we can get the tyres to last, that’s the way it is. We started second on Saturday and fifth on Sunday, but finished a long way back.

“There is some more testing on parity coming this week, so we’ve got to see what happens with that before we head to Sydney Motorsport Park.”

Blanchard Racing owner Tim Blanchard agreed the parity tweaks had not helped improve the tyre life of the Mustang compared to the Camaros.

“It’s still pretty hard for us,” Blanchard said.

“There is no tyre life compared to the Camaros. It’s hard to hang onto the tyres compared to the other cars.

“Sydney will be another tough one, but it will be interesting to see how we go. Tyre life is always critical around SMP and we still haven’t been able to achieve the tyre life of the Camaros.”