When Daniel Ricciardo burst onto the Formula 1 scene with HRT in 2011, no one would have imagined his career dipping the way it did at McLaren. Time and again, during his stint at Red Bull, he showed us his championship pedigree. But it never came to any avail. You’d have expected him to be lapped up by the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes, then. Once again, it never materialized.

That being said, if his Red Bull reappearance is even a semblance of hope to see the Honey Badger get back into championship-winning machinery, then Sky Sports F1’s David Croft’s got some damning news for you.

Is Daniel Ricciardo surplus to requirements at Red Bull?

After the Australian was let go by the Woking-based team, he finally returned home to Red Bull. However, according to David Croft, it isn’t the fairytale you’re being made to believe it is. In a Sky F1 review of the 2022 season, Crofty began by comparing Ricciardo with incumbent Red Bull man Sergio Perez, “I think that they’re two very different styles of driver [Ricciardo and Perez].”

He then went on to give his damning verdict on Ricciardo’s homecoming. “They’re both capable of winning races but, to me, they win races in very different ways. I hate to say this, I think Daniel is a terrific bloke, but he is not the future for Red Bull – not by any stretch of the imagination, mainly because of age.”

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Christian Horner, too, has been very candid, yet, blunt about Ricciardo’s role within the team. As it turns out, Ricciardo may never be the 1st, or even 2nd choice for the Milton Keynes-based team.

Christian Horner shuts the door firmly on Daniel Ricciardo returning to Red Bull in a racing capacity

When it was announced that Ricciardo would be re-joining Red Bull, for a brief moment, every F1 fan held on to their breaths. However, as it turns out, Ricciardo’s chances at actually securing a race seat at Red Bull may be as hollow as his 2023 McLaren contract.

Horner told Speedcafe.com, “Daniel will be attending some races where, obviously, he will be our reserve driver for those events. [He will] probably do a bit of tyre testing for us, not with the Pirelli programme that gets distributed around the teams.”

“Hopefully, in that process, Daniel will rediscover his passion for Formula 1, but we certainly have no plans to utilize him other than in that third driver role, combined with the commercial activities that he’ll be performing.”

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Can Ricciardo convince Red Bull to give him that shot at a proper race seat for 2024 or beyond? Only time will tell.