'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Daniel Ricciardo's name will start gaining momentum as Sergio Perez's replacement at Red Bull as soon as he makes a return to the paddock at Austin for the 2023 F1 US GP. The Australian made a premature return to Formula 1 when he replaced Nyck de Vries in Hungary.
What followed was an interesting stint of just two races, where he did somewhat impress everyone. The first race in Hungary saw him outright get the better of Yuki Tsunoda, and the second race in Spa saw him do a decent job in the sprint but get outperformed in the race.
Yet, this was supposed to be the time when Daniel Ricciardo was trying to acclimate himself to the team. The true picture was supposed to reveal itself once the Australian got back from a month of preparation during the summer break.
As we all know now, the return was cut short by an incident in the very first race post-summer break in Zandvoort.
At that point in time, it did appear to everyone concerned that the threat over Sergio Perez's seat was now gone; whenever Daniel Ricciardo returned to the squad, he would not have enough time to impress the Red Bull brass enough to let him replace Perez.
Well, partly there is truth to this as Daniel Ricciardo makes a return to Formula 1 with only five races left in the season. In that short time, it is going to be hard for him to influence Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to replace Sergio Perez.
Having said that, looking at the run that Sergio Perez has been on recently, it is not far-fetched to predict Red Bull replacing him with Daniel Ricciardo after a good five-race stint at AlphaTauri. Here's why!
Sergio Perez's form has nosedived
The issue with Sergio Perez's performance is that his weakness gets amplified by the Red Bull car's issues. While Red Bull is the better car overall, it's not as competent in qualifying as it is in races.
While teammate Max Verstappen can paper over this weakness because of his excellent qualifying performance, Perez cannot. On average, Checo can be around half a second slower than Verstappen.
What that does is that it mounts pressure on Sergio Perez to make up places in the race and take the car to the position it deserves to be in. This leads to errors and mistakes, something that was evident with the driver in the last couple of races.
Ideally, Red Bull should be scoring a 1-2 finish at every race, as should the pace of the car. Unfortunately, in 2023, the team has had a '1-2' finish only 6 out of the 17 races.
This is just below par for the Mexican, as he finds himself with almost only half the points as his teammate in the standings.
The threat of a challenge from behind has increased
The race in Qatar was the first time (other than Singapore, which was a fluke weekend) that Red Bull had a semblance of a challenge from McLaren.
The car was slower, and Max Verstappen could fend off Oscar Piastri's quote easily, but what stood out was the reaction of both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko after the race.
Both of them seemed concerned because if McLaren had a couple more tenths in hand, Max Verstappen could have been exposed to a flexible strategy against Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
With Sergio Perez nowhere to even act as a wingman, this was an alarming situation, especially with the gaps expected to decrease as the regulations mature.
A Daniel Ricciardo gamble might not be too bad a thing
Finally, we come to the most important part. A Daniel Ricciardo gamble might not be such a bad thing for Red Bull. If he puts in five strong races that coincide with Sergio Perez's performances not improving, then there's not much to lose for the Austrian team.
They know what Sergio Perez is going to deliver, and for sure, that's not good enough. They also don't have many options as most drivers are already tied up in their contracts, leaving only one viable option, Daniel Ricciardo.
Even on the commercial side, Daniel Ricciardo is a marketing marvel. The driver is loved in America and by the media. If Perez cannot perform, then Red Bull, a squad that's never shy about taking risks, can take the punt on the affable Australian.
