Daniel Ricciardo’s former right hand man now competing against him with new F1 teammate

In a surprise twist in Daniel Ricciardo’s return to F1, the Aussie’s former right hand man will be working with his biggest competition.

Daniel Ricciardo's old coach is now with Yuki Tsunoda.

When Daniel Ricciardo lines up for AlphaTauri for the rest of the Formula One season, he will be competing against his friend and former coach.

Ricciardo’s stint in the F1 wilderness only lasted 10 races this season before AlphaTauri pulled the pin on rookie Nyck De Vries and replaced him with the veteran Aussie for the remainder of the season.

AlphaTauri is Red Bull’s feeder team and while expectations should be tempered of what Ricciardo can do in one of the slowest cars on the grid, it’s a huge vote of confidence from Red Bull.

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If Sergio Perez’s recent struggles — particularly in qualifying — continue into the second half of the year, the pressure will mount on the Mexican and he could well be replaced by Ricciardo for 2024.

An interesting subplot in the F1 silly season drama is that Ricciardo will now be on the opposite side of the garage to his old performance coach Michael Italiano.

Close friends with Ricciardo from their Perth days, Italiano served as his coach for five years, following him from Red Bull to Renault and McLaren.

But after McLaren parted ways with Ricciardo and replaced him with Aussie Oscar Piastri, Italiano stayed on the F1 circuit, switching allegiances to coach AlphaTauri youngster Yuki Tsunoda.

Daniel Ricciardo and Michael Italiano. Photo: Instagram.

The Aussie duo spent five seasons together. Photo: Instagram.

Tsunoda, 23, is a pint-sized Japanese driver known for his speedy, if not erratic performances on the track, and a tendency to lose his temper easily and blow up in expletive-laden outbursts over team radio.

Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko previously described Tsunoda as a “problem child”, revealing last year a psychologist had been hired to work with him.

AlphaTauri is last in the constructors’ standings after 10 races this season, with Tsunoda scoring the team’s only two championship points so far.

Earlier this year, Italiano told Sporting News Tsunoda and Ricciardo “are definitely different characters” but he was looking forward to a new challenge in F1.

“You need to be versatile, and you need to be flexible with the athletes that you have on your hands,” he said.

“Yuki is a lot younger than Daniel. He’s 22. So he’s still figuring himself out in Formula 1.

“He comes from a background where he’s not used to the European lifestyle, so he’s also had to adjust to that. He’s had a lot of adversity and he’s dealt with it really well.

“I’m actually really excited to now take on a younger driver and almost nurture him in a way … give him my experience as an older person, being 10 years older than him.

“And I want to take on a little bit more of a mentoring role and help him get through life, figure himself out and make sure that he’s improving in Formula 1.”

Michael Italiano is now coaching Yuki Tsunoda. Photo: Instagram.

He is mentoring the Japanese youngster. Photo: Instagram.

Interestingly, Italiano said before the season beating De Vries would be a key measure of success for Tsunoda.

“I think the obvious metric is making sure that he’s very competitive with his teammate,” he said.

“He has a very strong teammate this year in Nyck De Vries, who is very experienced.

“So the goal would be to be quicker than Nyck, which will be very challenging but it’s something that we’re up for.

“I think that’s the initial goal — embed himself as a good driver and beat his teammate to start with, and then let’s move from there.”

So it will certainly be an interesting dynamic for Italiano in the AlphaTauri garage, knowing his driver’s biggest competition is now Ricciardo, the man he used to guide.

Italiano coached Ricciardo for five seasons since 2018, and conceded the 2022 season with McLaren was as tough as it gets.

“It’s been difficult,” he told CODE last year.

“Because, you know, the results don’t add up to the effort that we’re putting in. I think that’s always going to be frustrating as an athlete and the team around him.

Ricciardo’s new teammate is AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

“When you know you’re putting in hard work and you’re focusing on the process (and) working on the stuff that matters and the results don’t align.

“It can suck at times. Not all the time but how you measure your performances, results is a big factor.

“Daniel has high standards for himself. So he should, he‘s an amazing driver. He’s super quick. He’s talented.

“Having that pressure is a privilege though, to a point where there’s maybe more pressure on Daniel because he’s not performing. People expect him to perform because he’s good. He’s friggin’ good. So take that pressure as a privilege, because if he didn’t have the pressure, what you have probably isn’t worthy enough.”

Ricciardo will suit up with AlphaTauri for the first time when the F1 season continues at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday 23 July at 11pm.