Alpine as the most interesting option for Ricciardo

The Australian press is concerned about Daniel Ricciardo’s situation, writing that it is difficult to envision the 2023 World Cup grid without him.

Events in the pilot market are developing in a rather unexpected scenario, starting with the announcement of Fernando Alonso’s transfer to Aston Martin, where the two-time world champion will replace Sebastian Vettel. Alpine subsequently confirmed that Oscar Piastri would become Esteban Okon’s new partner, but the promising 21-year-old Australian said he had other plans and would not play for the works team of French concern Renault.

Judging by ongoing rumors that have not yet been confirmed by either side, Piastri (whose career is Mark Webber by the way, and he is also Australian) has already signed a contract with McLaren – which is why Riccardo’s continued partnership with this team is in high demand.

At the same time – according to rumors – at least four teams are interested in his services, and some of them informed Daniel about this some time ago, when there was talk that McLaren was ready to terminate his contract, although its effect will not end until 2023.

It’s not hard to figure out which teams these could be, and we’ve already mentioned them: in theory Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams could be included in this list, but now it’s worth adding Alpine to it .

Presumably, each of these options is more attractive than ending a career, although of course they are not equivalent.

It is unlikely that Alpine would be able to make any offers to Riccardo before the Hungarian Grand Prix, as they were certain that the team would remain unchanged in 2023, and this was until Alonso surprised everyone by signing a contract with Aston Martin. In addition, Alpine had Piastri, who they believe was legally bound to the team.

But the situation has suddenly changed and it is likely that the team’s leadership from Enstone already started some preliminary negotiations last week with Daniel, who worked with her in 2019-2020, when she was still called Renault.

It is Alpine that should be considered the most interesting option, if only because it is the strongest of the mentioned teams. She left for the summer break and finished 4th in the Constructors’ Championship and ahead of McLaren, albeit by just four points. It is now on the rise, and not only thanks to the stable performance of Okon and Alonso: Alpine invites new specialists to keep up with the top teams in terms of number of employees, the modernization of the base continues and everything is in order with the budget.

Last October, Laurent Rossi, the team’s chief executive, said they had a plan for 100 races, ie. four seasons, aiming to regularly climb the podium and achieve victories. Only one and a half of those four seasons are behind us, and while Esteban Ocon races quite confidently, another seasoned Alpine pro wouldn’t hurt. At the same time, there is now no other pilot on the market except Riccardo, who would have comparable sports and marketing potential.

But a writer on the Australian site Foxsports.au made another curious comment: “While neither side (ie Alpine or Ricciardo) admits it, they are united by the fact that they have a common rival. Both obviously want to beat McLaren in a head-to-head confrontation and now they have a big chance.

Of course there is also a negative point regarding the fact that Riccardo once left Renault, although they counted on his services, but it can be assumed that the parties will still agree, because sometimes much less logical things happen in the Formula 1.

In addition, Otmar Szafnauer, sports director, does not rule out this: “Look at Fernando, he changes teams often, and I believe this happens with other riders as well. I don’t think there are any problems with Riccardo.”

What Daniel himself thinks about all this will become known only after some time, because now, judging by his activity on social networks, he is completely resting, as if making it clear that all this fuss does not really interest him. Or just pretend…