Ricciardo return ‘another layer of pressure’ for Perez

Ricciardo’s sensational return with AlphaTauri was confirmed last week, replacing the underperforming Nyck de Vries.

The Australian has already stated he’s eyeing up a return to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

Ricciardo will have to prove himself alongside Yuki Tsunoda following a turbulent two years at McLaren.

Speaking ahead of Friday practice during Sky Sports’ F1 coverage, Patrick gave her view on how Perez would deal with Ricciardo’s return.

“I’m sure he [Perez] has been feeling the pressure all year, the pressure situation of being Max’s team-mate, but also his performance struggling throughout the year and Max being so much faster and winning so many races. 

“I’m sure he’s been feeling the pressure, but things do have levels of getting more real, and so when the conversation is about someone taking your seat having been in that developmental fold, it’s going to add just another layer of it.

“Just like Daniel, Sergio puts on a pretty good face too. At the end of the day, when you jump in the car there’s only mode and that is ‘go’. So you can rely on that as a driver that you go into those automatic driving modes.”

Martin Brundle was pleased to see Ricciardo back on the F1 2023, but conceded it was “extremely harsh” on De Vries.

“Who doesn’t enjoy having Daniel’s smile and speed back on the grid? He’s such a character, he’s great for Formula 1 and I’m really pleased to see him back.

“I think it was extremely harsh on Nyck de Vries. I think he deserved more time and a bigger chance, especially with no testing these days, to prove himself in the AlphaTauri.”