Ricciardo's ‘rehabilitation will take longer’ as Lawson moves next in line

The Australian has returned to Red Bull in a reserve driver capacity after having his McLaren contract terminated a year early at the end of an underwhelming 2022 campaign.

Amid Nyck de Vries’ ongoing struggles, there have been suggestions that Ricciardo could replace the Dutchman at AlphaTauri this season. 

With de Vries enduring a difficult start to his rookie F1 campaign, Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has reportedly given him four races - including Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix - to salvage his AlphaTauri career. 

Ricciardo is set to be evaluated by Red Bull during a post-race test following next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, though at this stage he is not thought to be in contention for a race seat this year. 

If de Vries is axed, Red Bull junior and Super Formula frontrunner Liam Lawson is believed to be the leading candidate to take the AlphaTauri seat. 

“Liam Lawson is next on the ladder of Red Bull young drivers. He’s here this weekend, read into that what you will,” Kravitz said on his Notebook after Friday qualifying in Austria. 

“It doesn’t seem like Daniel Ricciardo is going to get into an AlphaTauri, or anything else. He’s just doing some testing.

“I think it’s going to take longer for the re-finding of the Ricciardo mojo. He certainly is not going to be bounced into a seat this year – although I could be wrong on that.

“It looks like Liam Lawson is next for any seats that either AlphaTauri or Red Bull Racing might have going, but anyway it looks like Perez will continue next year anyway.

"The rehabilitation of Ricciardo, if you want to call it that, will take a bit longer."