Ted Kravitz calls out ‘odd’ Ricciardo comment as AlphaTauri move baffles him

Ted Kravitz has called out a comment from Daniel Ricciardo just hours after the Australian announced his F1 return. Ricciardo’s move to AlphaTauri was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon after he impressed Red Bull bosses at a Pirelli tyre test.

It came after Nyck de Vries was axed by chiefs just 10 races into his maiden F1 season. On the announcement, Ricciardo admitted he was happy to be returning to the “Red Bull family”.

However, Kravitz had suggested the remark was peculiar from the eight-time race winner who will not be returning to the top team in his new role. Kravitz told the Sky Sports F1 podcast: “That quote from Ricciardo I thought was odd.

“He said ‘I’m stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family’. He can’t even bring himself to say AlphaTauri! He doesn’t want to say I’m delighted to drive the AlphaTauri because it’s not a quick car.

“Maybe there’s some longer-term gain in it for Ricciardo, because there might well be some short-term pain if he can’t do any better than De Vries.”

Kravitz has also suggested the move could make Sergio Perez worried about his F1 future. The Mexican has struggled in recent events and has not made Q3 for five consecutive race weekends.

F1 TV presenter Will Buxton has also hinted that Red Bull could be “seriously assessing” Ricciardo for the seat alongside Max Verstappen. Ricciardo left McLaren last season after struggling in a lower-midfield car, similar to where AlphaTauri now find themselves.

Earlier this season, the Australian admitted he would not come back to F1 “at any cost” as he listed his terms and conditions.

The 34-year-old made clear he only wanted to return to the sport at a “top team”, making his AlphaTauri move even more intriguing. Kravitz added: “It’s all well and good basing it on the Red Bull RB19, which is the class of the field, but he’s not driving that car.

“He’s driving probably one of the slowest cars on the grid, if not the slowest, which is the AlphaTauri. The AlphaTauri had some upgrades at Silverstone and they finished further down than they normally do with a non-upgraded car. This is not a great AlphaTauri, it’s fair to say.

“Not to say that they shouldn’t have replaced Nyck de Vries – clearly it wasn’t working – but the surprise is why Daniel Ricciardo would want to go in to that car that is worse than the McLaren he left last year, probably.”