Red Bull Racing’s second driver, Sergio Perez, has not been at his best since the Miami GP. He is facing intense pressure to keep up with teammate Max Verstappen as the Dutch driver is leading by nearly 100 points in the drivers’ championship. Naturally, the Mexican driver has been at the receiving end. There have been talks of a mid-season seat swap, but Red Bull top continues to shower unwavering support on Perez.
While there is nothing wrong with backing a driver during tough times, Red Bull has a quality driver on the waiting list, Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian recently joined Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, with the hope of making it to the second seat. While it looks like a vague thought, an F1 pundit has a wild take on an alternate reality featuring Ricciardo.
F1 Pundit Says Daniel Ricciardo Would Have Been A Lot More Competitive Than Sergio Perez In RB19!
In 2019, promising young talent Daniel Ricciardo parted ways with Red Bull to seek more opportunities elsewhere. He drove for Renault and McLaren, but things didn’t work out as expected. Hence, in 2023, the Australian had a homecoming and rejoined the drink-based team as a reserve driver since Sergio Perez captured the second seat. However, the Mexican driver’s performance in the fastest car on the grid has remained underwhelming. Hence, F1 pundit Ben Anderson has put forth an alternate reality where Daniel Ricciardo could have continued with Red Bull instead of switching in 2019.
Ben Anderson believes that by staying at Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo would not have gained any bad habits and instead would have improved each year. Moreover, the F1 pundit claims that while the Australian driver would not necessarily have been successful in defeating Max Verstappen, he for sure would have posed a greater challenge than Sergio Perez. The current machinery, RB19, is undoubtedly the fastest car on the grid. While Max has been cruising on the track, Perez has failed to push the car to the limit. Meanwhile, Ricciardo possesses great talent. He led McLaren to its first victory in a long while before things fell apart. Hence, it wouldn’t be completely wrong to assume that Ricciardo perhaps would have been a better second driver for Red Bull than Sergio Perez.
Daniel Ricciardo Keeps Red Bull “Fairytale” Dream Alive!
With Sergio Perez under contract till 2024, reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo stood no chance of grabbing the second seat and raced alongside Max Verstappen. However, with Perez’s latest slump, the Aussie is making moves. He recently replaced Nyck De Vries at Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, with a bid to audition for the second seat. While Ricciardo repeatedly claimed not to want to race for a backmarker team, joining AlphaTauri has a hidden agenda attached to it.
Daniel Ricciardo earlier stated that it’s his fairytale dream to bid goodbye to the sport of Formula One with Red Bull. Hence, by joining AlphaTauri, the Australian driver is putting his contention for the second seat on the drink-based team. He desperately wants to race from the front row and compete to win. Having said that, it remains to be seen if Ricciardo is able to meet his agenda successfully.
