Brundle: F1 ‘a better place’ with Ricciardo | ‘Absolutely got to beat Tsunoda’
Earlier this week, AlphaTauri announced Ricciardo’s sensational return to F1 as Nyck de Vries’ replacement.
The decision came after a poor start to de Vries’ F1 career, struggling in his only 10 starts, while Ricciardo impressed Red Bull both on the simulator and during the Pirelli tyre test.
It gives Ricciardo one last shot to impress in F1 after two dismal years alongside Lando Norris at McLaren.
Ultimately, Ricciardo is eyeing up Sergio Perez’s Red Bull drive, particularly given the Mexican’s stuttering form lately.
“I'm really pleased to see him back, but just my honest reaction was, 'wow. Daniel's going to do that, is he?' It surprised me,” Brundle told Sky Sports News.
“Daniel's always talked about he's lost his mojo and he needs to get his enthusiasm back, and so I didn't think he'd take that, unless there's another deal that goes with it, a 'you do this and then down the road we'll do that'.
“I'm sure he's had six months of sim-work and not being a Formula 1 driver and that will have hit him very hard. And so I can fully understand the attraction of being one of the 20 on the grid.
“My overriding feeling here is Formula 1 feels a better place when Daniel Ricciardo's on the grid, and I hated seeing him having to loiter around all weekend."
Brundle declared Ricciardo’s return as “high-risk” as he looks to go head-to-head with Yuki Tsunoda.
“It's high risk for Daniel in what is probably the slowest car on the grid,” Brundle added.
“He's got to beat Tsunoda, he's absolutely got to. He needs to edge him in qualy and in the races, that's an absolute given as an expectation.
“Maybe he can outperform that car, if he can massively outperform that car and get it somewhere near the top 10 and keep it there in the race, then maybe it will be his salvation in that respect.”
