After being underwhelmed by his comeback displays, ex-Formula 1 driver and current pundit Martin Brundle has questioned whether Daniel Ricciardo is ready to partner Max Verstappen again at Red Bull.
Having been ousted from McLaren at the end of 2022 following a tumultuous season, Ricciardo returned to the Red Bull stable at the start of this year in the role of third driver.
But the Australian was handed an F1 reprieve in July with the Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri outfit when Nyck de Vries was suddenly dropped only 10 races into his rookie season
Although his comeback was interrupted by sustaining a broken left hand in a practice crash at Zandvoort, Ricciardo participated in the remaining five rounds of the campaign.
While the 34-year-old impressed with a seventh-place finish in Mexico, Ricciardo was outshone by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda several times in an improved AT04 package.
Despite Ricciardo being touted as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez at Red Bull, Brundle declares he must improve if he wants to go up against Verstappen, who won a record-breaking 19 races en route to a third consecutive Drivers’ title this past season.
“I don’t think Daniel has perhaps outperformed Tsunoda as I would have expected him to,” Brundle conceded in a Sky F1 fan Q&A.
“I know he was thrown in at the deep end and he was really unlucky with that incident in Zandvoort. So the jury is out on that.
“And you have to say McLaren replaced him with [Oscar] Piastri, at some cost and pain, and that proved to be a pretty smart move, didn’t it?”
“So for me, Daniel’s got a lot more to do before I would think that he’s ready to go and take the fight to Max Verstappen.”
Since re-entering the Red Bull fray, Ricciardo has repeatedly professed that his ambition is to return to the Red Bull seat that he vacated at the end of 2018 to move to Renault.
Speaking earlier this month, the ex-McLaren racer reiterated that earning back that position with the reigning champions would represent the “perfect” end to his career.
“I’m not even going to put a day, or date on it, or year, whatever,” he said regarding his 2025 prospects on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“I think coming back into it and jumping back in with the Red Bull family, doing the test in July, all these things, working with Simon again, that’s really the dream.
“Honestly, to end my career as a Red Bull driver would be perfect. Not that I’m looking at the end, but if I go back there, then I’ll certainly make sure I finish there.
But Verstappen, who partnered Ricciardo from 2016-18, concurred with Brundle’s assessment by admitting that the eight-time race winner must prove his worth again.
“I think Daniel has the talent to drive for a top team like Red Bull,” the Dutchman issued.
“But he needs to show that he can still perform at the highest level. If he can do that, then I’m sure Red Bull would be interested in bringing him back.
“He’s got a lot of experience and he’s always been able to extract the maximum from the car. If he can get back to his best, then I’m sure he would be a very valuable asset to any team.”
