Official: Daniel Ricciardo returns to Red Bull as third driver

His return is not a surprise. Since not being retained by McLaren for the 2023 season, Daniel Ricciardo found himself without a seat. The Australian therefore threw out a message in a bottle to find a job in F1. He was in contact with Mercedes and Red Bull among others.

The team that saw him win seven out of his eight victories has hired him again as their third driver. The announcement was made this Wednesday, November 23rd. It’s great to have Daniel back in the Red Bull family. He has tremendous talent and such a brilliant personality, says Christian Horner, the boss of Red Bull.

Four years later

(e) I know that the entire factory is thrilled to welcome him back home. In his role as a test driver and third driver, Daniel will give us the opportunity to diversify, helping with the car’s development and assisting the team with his experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed in F1. We are very happy to be working with Daniel again and look forward to everything he will bring to the team in 2023.

Daniel Ricciardo left the Red Bull team in 2018 to join Renault for two years, and then McLaren for two more seasons. After these four seasons outside of the Austrian home, he doesn’t hide his joy.

My smile says it all, I am truly delighted to return to Oracle Red Bull Racing as the third driver in 2023. I already have so many fond memories of my time here, but the welcome from Christian, Helmut Marko, and the entire team is something that I genuinely appreciate.

Personally, the ability to contribute and be surrounded by the best F1 team is extremely appealing to me, while also giving me time to recharge and refocus. I can’t wait to be with the team and support the work on the simulator, the testing sessions, and the business activities. Let’s do this!

An important marketing role

“Ricciardo will hold the position of the 3rd driver in 2023, however, it appears that he will mainly perform marketing operations for Red Bull. Helmut Marko states this way: ”

We have so many sponsors, we have to do demonstrations and other things, so of course, he is one of the most prominent and most capable of performing these operations.