Daniel Ricciardo Returns to Red Bull in Third Driver Role

Daniel Ricciardo has returned to Oracle Red Bull Racing today and will be in a third driver role for the Milton-Keynes-based team.

A poor spell with McLaren F1 Team saw Ricciardo replaced by the young star, Oscar Piastri but we finally have confirmation that Ricciardo will not be leaving Formula 1 at the end of the season, with the Australian agreeing a special reunion with Red Bull.

Ricciardo takes the role in hope of a bigger opportunity opening up in 2024, with ‘The Honey Badger’ wanting to return to a seat higher up the grid after knocking back approaches from Haas F1 Team and Guenther Steiner earlier this year. The move makes a lot of sense for Red Bull too, with the team enjoying a great relationship with the Australian during his five-year spell after he progressed from their junior programme.

Ricciardo made his debut for HRT in 2011, but he quickly joined Toro Rosso the following year before being called up to Red Bull in 2014, where he spent his time alongside Sebastian Vettel, Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen. Ricciardo won eight races with the team, before departing to Renault in 2019, including his famous 2018 Monaco win.

Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

His time at Renault F1 Team was underrated, despite not bringing any wins back to the French team he was on the podium twice for them in 2020. After concerns about the team’s future, Ricciardo moved quickly to replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at McLaren, as much as it looked like a good match, it was far from it. The Australian was beaten in both seasons by Lando Norris, but his talent was still evident as he won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, marking McLaren’s first win since 2012. Despite the win, he struggled to string together a run of consistent results with the car not suiting his style.

Ricciardo now moves back to Red Bull, and will take part in testing, sim-work as well as commercial activity. It also likely that the Australian will be available to race if one of Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda or Nyck de Vries.

Ricciardo was delighted with the announcement of the news and looks forward to getting back to work with the team that he had most of his success with.

“The smile says it all, I’m truly excited to be coming back home to Oracle Red Bull Racing as their Third Driver in 2023. I already have so many fond memories of my time here, but the welcome from Christian, Dr Marko and the entire team is something I’m sincerely appreciative of.

“For me personally, the ability to contribute to and be surrounded by the best team in F1 is hugely appealing, whilst also giving me some time to recharge and refocus. I can’t wait to be with the team and support with simulator work, testing sessions and commercial activities. Let’s go!”