That is the revelation of Al𓄧phaTauri CEO Peter Bayer, who claims Red Bull wanted to keep Ricciardo in his reserve role, before later having a change of heart. ꦯ;

Ricciardo was 🔯parachuted in to replace the underperforming Nyck de Vries after just 10 races in 2023, completing a shock comeback to the F1 grid just months after losing his McLarꦗen drive. 

“Originally it was said: “No, Daniel is a reserve✱ driver at Red Bull and it stays that way’”, Bayer i🐻s quoted as telling German publication Motorsport Magazin.

“And then over the ✤course of a month we actually kept asking how things were going.

“At some point Christian Hor🐬ner [Red Bull team principal] came to 𒐪us and said: ‘We’re doing the test at Silverstone, maybe we’ll take a look at it’.

“Then Helmut [Marko, head of Red Bull♔’s driver development p🧜rogramme] said: ‘Yes, why not?’” 

The 34-year-old Australian sco🌌red AlphaTauri’s best result of the year in Mexico and helped the team secure eighth place in the constructors’ championship. 

“Daniel has experience,💯 so he helps us with the setup on all the routes,” Bayer added. 

“Daniel is a reꩵal referenc🌱e for Yuki [Tsunoda]. He brought an incredible amount of new energy into the team within a week.

“Our mechanics were happy: ‘Hey, wow, someth♑ing is happening!’. The transition wasn’t easy, but at the end of the day it had suc🌼h a positive impact."