F1 expert Martin Brundle admits 'jury is out' amid doubt Daniel Ricciardo is ready for Max Verstappen fight

Martin Brundle says he expected more from Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 return and is yet to be convinced he is ready to go up against Max Verstappen.
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) AlphaTauri. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) AlphaTauri. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix…

After losing his McLaren ꦦdrive at the end of 2022, Ricciardo completing a sensational return to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri at the Hungarian Grand Prix as he replaced the under-performing Nyck de Vries. 

But the 34-year-old Australian’s comeback was rocked💫 when he broke his hand in a crash during practice at his second race back at Zandvoort, ruling him out of the next five events. 

Ricciardo starred in Mexico with a stunning lap to qualify fourth o🧸n the grid, before converting that into seventh, marking AlphaTauri🉐’s best result of the season. 

But as F1 co-commentator Brundle admits, he thought Ricciardo would have out-performed teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Yuki Tsunoda by a more convincing margin. 

“I don't think Daniel has perhaps outperformed Tsunoda as I would have expecte💞d him to,” Brundle said in a Sky F1 fan Q&A. 

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) AlphaTauri AT04 leaves the pits. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) AlphaTauri AT04 leaves the pits. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23,…

“I know he was thrown in at the deep end and he was really u🐭nlucky with that incident in Zandvoort. So the jury is out on that.

“And you have to say McLaren replaced him with Piastri, at some cost and pain, and that pr🎶oved to be a pretty smart move, didn't it?”

Ricciardo is targeting a return to Red Bull as he eyes 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Sergio Perez’s seat alongside Verstappen, but Brundle is unsure how well he would fare against the triple 🐼world cꦬhampion. 

“So for me, Daniel's got a lot more ꧒to do before I would think that he's ready to go and take the fight to Max Verstappen,” he added. 

Back in July, B♛rundle described Ricciardo’s return with AlphaTauri as a “high-risk” 𝓰move. 

"He'sꦉ got to beat Tsunoda, he's absolutely got to,” Brundle said at the time. “He needs to edge him in qualy and in the races, that's an absolute given as✤ an expectation.”

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