‘Ridiculous’ Daniel Ricciardo delivers in ‘dump truck’ after collision

Daniel Ricciardo has shown promising signs in his comeback F1 race, producing a “mega” feat to recover and show he’s still got it.

Matthew Sullivan

4 min read

July 24, 2023 - 6:23AM

Daniel Ricciardo was superb in his F1 comeback race. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

Daniel Ricciardo showed he’s still got what it takes to compete in Formula One as Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s dominance with victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The reborn Aussie recovered from early disaster to move back to the position he began the race and finish ahead of his teammate.

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Ricciardo started in 13th but was immediately relegated to the back of the field when Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu bumped into the back of him and he was nudged wide.

In his first race for AlphaTauri, Ricciardo was dead last for much of the race in 18th after both Alpine drivers took each other out.

It was looking grim for Ricciardo after two pit stops in the first 30 laps, but he ended up finishing back where he started in 13th — making his medium tyres last a mammoth 40 laps.

Especially after getting hit in turn 1 doesnâ€™t matter if it was a bad stop for Yuki. Not a lot went right for Ricciardo and he still got p13 in that dump truck and made that last set of mediums last ðŸ”¥
— The Cupitals (@TheCupitals) July 23, 2023

Ricciardoâ€™s first weekend after his comeback has been excellent

In the first 10 events this season, TSU beat his teammate 8 times both in qualifying and in the races

This weekend, RIC was better in both sessions

He drove a solid race despite being hit by ZHO in turn 1#F1â€¦
— Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) July 23, 2023

Ricciardo has recovered to a very safe 13th place and a long medium tyre stint is still yielding personal best laps. A very good return that, especially after getting caught in contact at Turn 1 #F1 #HungarianGP
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) July 23, 2023

That was a mega final stint from Ricciardo, to go that distance on mediums is ridiculous.
— Jack Fawcett (@JackFawcett1704) July 23, 2023

just to be clear DANIEL RICCIARDO pushed the team to pit him after 9 laps on hard because HE thought he'd do better in clear air and made the mediums last for 40 laps
AT backed him up and kudos to them for trusting him, but HE pushed for it ðŸ™ watch his onboard
— à¦«à¦¾à¦°à¦¿à¦¨à¦¾ // Farina (@namedafterflour) July 23, 2023

He finished two places ahead of his AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who was 15th.

Verstappen racing against ‘bunch of F2 cars’

Verstappen swooped on a sluggish start by Lewis Hamilton to take the lead on the opening lap and he never looked back, cruising to his ninth victory of the season.

He won by 33 seconds, prompting Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to say the race “was like a bunch of Formula 2 cars against a Formula 1”.

It was Red Bull’s 12th consecutive victory, breaking the record for the most wins in a row by a team set by McLaren in 1988 when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were at the peak of their powers.

Perez delivers a ‘statement drive’

Lando Norris finished second for his second podium in a row, while Sergio Perez was on a mission, flying through the field to claim third.

“His recovery, his overtaking was brave,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said of Perez.

“His pace was fast, the way he made the places, passing cars, passing Fernando [Alonso], passing [Oscar] Piastri; the strategy that he had, he was on fire today.

“A race like that only gives you a huge amount of confidence.

“His overtaking, the bravery that he showed, for me that was really a statement drive today to say ‘look, don’t write me off’.”

McLaren defends Piastri pit strategy

After just missing the podium at Silvertone, it was another case of so near, yet so far for Oscar Piastri who finished fifth behind Hamilton.

Piastri had a superb start, sneaking past Hamilton and Norris on the opening corner to give himself a shot at the podium.

But his top three hopes were dashed when Norris undercut him by pitting a lap early and he was overtaken by Perez and Hamilton later in the race.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the decision to pit Norris first was a bid to protect the Briton from losing position to Hamilton.

“In terms of the undercut that we had at the first stop, you just go really with the sequence that is natural, because you cover with the car that is more at risk, and then you cover with the other car,” Stella said.

McLaren’s pitstop strategy with Oscar Piastri was debated. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

“Lando’s out lap was just super, super quick, which meant Oscar lost the position. To be honest, our approach to these situations is to think about team first. We think as a team, and then we deal with the internal situation.”

Stella revealed the Aussie was hampered by floor damage.

“Oscar had damage on his car, and this meant that he lost some time from a performance point of view,” he said.

“But also, we think because this was rear downforce, this caused extra degradation of the tyres. And that’s part of the reason why he struggled then to keep up with Lando, but also with the other cars coming behind him.”

Hungarian Grand Prix results

1) Max Verstappen

2) Lando Norris

3) Sergio Perez

4) Lewis Hamilton

5) Oscar Piastri

6) George Russell

7) Charles Leclerc

8) Carlos Sainz

9) Fernando Alonso

10) Lance Stroll

11) Alex Albon

12) Valtteri Bottas

13) Daniel Ricciardo

14) Niko Hulkenberg

15) Yuki Tsunoda

16) Zhou Guanyu

17) Kevin Magnussen

18) Logan Sargeant

19) Esteban Ocon

20) Pierre Gasly

Lap 54 - Verstappen cruising

Max Verstappen is cruising to a record 12th consecutive race win ahead of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez, who has driven a superb race.

Piastri is running fourth and is battling to hold off Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 33 - Ricciardo last, pits again

Daniel Ricciardo has pitted twice in the first 30 laps in a bid to get into some clean air at the back of the field.

Lap 25 - Norris undercuts Piastri

Lando Norris managed to overtake Oscar Piastri by pitting a lap earlier than his teammate and driving a lightning fast outlap to just pass the Aussie as he came out of the pits.

Piastri might be stuck behind Norris for the rest of the race and will struggle to make the podium now.

LAP 19/70

Piastri comes back out on track side-by-side with Norris, and it's the Briton who gets the jump on his team mate exiting Turn 1

Norris is P3, Piastri P4 #HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/jM0KZLFx7C
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2023

11.15 - Ricciardo running last after frenetic start

Daniel Ricciardo started 13th but got caught in some chaos at the start when Zhou Guanyu ran into into the back of him.

Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly bumped into each other and ruined each other’s race.

Zhou Guanyu drove into the back of poor old Daniel Ricciardo. Photo: Twitter.

It’s a nightmare start for Ricciardo, who faces a huge battle to get his AlphaTauri into the points. He’s running 18th, which is dead last given both Alpines are out of the race.

Zhou went into the back of Ricciardo, who then was pushed into the Alpines ahead #F1 #HungarianGP
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) July 23, 2023

Game of skittles at the start: Zhou touched Ricciardo under braking into Turn 1, who hit Ocon, who then hit Gasly.

Bad luck for the Alpines, both cars are out of the race #F1 #HungarianGP
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) July 23, 2023

11.09 - Piastri makes sensational start

The Hungarian Grand Prix is underway and Oscar Piastri has made the perfect start.

The Aussie rookie got off to a flyer and snuck down the inside past Lewis Hamilton, who was sluggish off the start line.

Hamilton also got jumped by Max Verstappen, who took the lead ahead of Piastri and Lando Norris.

10.55pm - Aussie duo break 10-year drought

We’ve come to expect an Aussie to be on the F1 grid in recent years.

But with Daniel Ricciardo returning to the grid, there will be two Australian drivers in an F1 race when the veteran races alongside Oscar Piastri.

It’s the first time there’s been two Aussies on the grid since 2013 when Mark Webber was driving for Red Bull and Ricciardo was with Toro Rosso.