Brundle: Ricciardo return 'high risk' – must beat Tsunoda

Martin Brundle believes that Daniel Ricciardo's return to the grid with AlphaTauri is a "high risk" proposition, but it's one that is great for Formula 1.

Red Bull announced on Tuesday that Ricciardo would replace Nyck de Vries at the Faenza squad with immediate effect.

The Aussie's many fans will therefore enjoy seeing Ricciardo in action as soon as next week at the Hungaroring for F1's penultimate round of racing before its summer break.

Brundle admitted to being surprised by Ricciardo accepting to return to the fray with the slowest team on the grid given that his professed target was to fill a seat with a competitive F1 outfit.

"I'm really pleased to see him back, but just my honest reaction was, 'wow, Daniel's going to do that, is he?' It surprised me," Brundle told Sky Sports News.

"Daniel's always talked about he's lost his mojo and he needs to get his enthusiasm back, and so I didn't think he'd take that, unless there's another deal that goes with it, a 'you do this and then down the road we'll do that'.

"I'm sure he's had six months of SIM work and not being a Formula 1 driver and that will have hit him very hard. And so I can fully understand the attraction of being one of the 20 on the grid.

"My overriding feeling here is Formula 1 feels a better place when Daniel Ricciardo's on the grid, and I hated seeing him having to loiter around all weekend."

De Vries' failure to hold on to his seat with AlphaTauri was in large part rooted in his inability to outperform teammate Yuki Tsunoda, whether in qualifying or in race trim.

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Brundle believes Ricciardo should be awarded a "one or two-race" grace period to allow him to settle in with his new team and car. But thereafter, if the 34-year-old is to revive his career in F1, he must "absolutely" beat Tsunoda.

"It's high risk for Daniel in what is probably the slowest car on the grid," Brundle added.

"He's got to beat Tsunoda, he's absolutely got to. He needs to edge him in qualy and in the races, that's an absolute given as an expectation.

"Maybe he can outperform that car, if he can massively outperform that car and get it somewhere near the top 10 and keep it there in the race, then maybe it will be his salvation in that respect."

As for de Vries, Brundle feels sad for the Dutchman who now sits in "a long line of Red Bull drivers that have pretty much gone through the mangle and not come out very well."

"He's not even had half a season, in what is quite clearly a difficult car - his team-mate's a lot more experienced," added the former Grand Prix driver.

"Has it gone well for Nyck? No. Quite clearly to me, desperation has crept into his driving in recent races, quite a lot of desperation.

"He's got into some skirmishes he shouldn't have been in, and it's just been really sad to watch because I think he's better than that.

"I feel sorry for him that he hasn't had more time and more support."

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