Why Daniel Ricciardo is suddenly a serious threat to Sergio Perez in F1
- Posted by cruz on Oct 30, 2023
Daniel Ricciardo might be back to his best in Formula 1, and starting to show he could get a Red Bull Racing return after all.
Ricciardo was performing at a Red Bull level at the Mexican Grand Prix - literally. He qualified alongside Max Verstappen AND outpaced Sergio Perez, which is as much of a statement as it’s possible to make in an AlphaTauri.
ESPECIALLY as Ricciardo followed that up with a strong seventh place in the grand prix, running ahead of several faster cars for a lot of it and passing every test of his racecraft, tyre management and pace, while Perez completely imploded and wiped himself out at the first corner.
And this is about much more than a single result. It’s what made such a performance possible, the reasons to believe it’s sustainable, how much life it breathes into Ricciardo’s post-McLaren renaissance and the fact he looks like he really COULD be what Red Bull needs from Verstappen’s future team-mate.
00:00 Ricciardo shines
02:00 What changed?
03:51 What's n