New AlphaTauri CEO gives Ricciardo boost in race for 2024 seat
AlphaTauri’s driver line-up for next year is still unconfirmed.
It looked like Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were guaranteed a seat for 2024 after the Australian's impressive comeback in place of Nyck de Vries.
However, Ricciardo’s injury and subsequent absence has opened the door for Liam Lawson, who has impressed Helmut Marko.
Bayer has outlined his stance on AlphaTauri's future driver line-up.
"My belief is that… obviously, we cannot only develop young drivers – we also have to be competitive,” Bayer told PlanetF1.com.
“I think, to be competitive nowadays, you need… in order to fulfil both cars, you need to have one experienced driver and one young one. That’s really what I’m trying to achieve, you know, to have an experienced one and a young one.
“Because then the young one will learn more from the experienced one, the experienced one will help us and, for example, Daniel helped us tremendously on setting up the car.
“So whilst we give feedback to a young driver, the experienced one gives us feedback, and I’m convinced you need to have those two.”
AlphaTauri’s desire for an experienced driver is no surprise given their poor form since the start of 2022.
They slumped to ninth in the constructors’ championship last year
In F1 2023, they’re set to finish bottom of the standings, scoring just three points so far.
