Red Bull’s return for Daniel Ricciardo comes as Helmut Marko’s plans become clear.

Red Bull’s return for Daniel Ricciardo comes as Helmut Marko’s plans become clear.

AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer has admitted that Red Bull originally planned to block Daniel Ricciardo from racing for the sister team last year.

But of course the turning point came after the Silverstone test last July. He has shown enough pace to convince Red Bull’s decision-makers that he is the right man to replace the struggling Nick de Vries after 10 races of the season.

Previously, according to Bayer, Red Bull objected to potential drivers competing. “When I started, I always looked around and thought: ‘If Nick de Vries doesn’t succeed in terms of performance, Daniel would be the perfect solution for us,'” he told Motorsport Tijdschrift.

\”Why? Daniel has the experience to help us set the direction. Daniel is the actual reference of Yuki [Tsunoda]. He brought new energy to the team during the week.

“Our engineers were excited, ‘Wow, something’s happening!’ The transition was not easy, but in the end it had a positive impact. Originally it read: “No, Daniel is and will remain Red Bull’s reserve driver.”

“Within a month I asked how things were going. At one point, Christian Horner came to us and said: “We’re testing at Silverstone. I’d like to take a look.” And Helmut [Marco]: — Yes, why not?

Marko is an experienced advisor to the Red Bull team and is responsible for driver development. For the young racers coming through the ranks, he’s someone to look up to if you want a chance to break into F1 on that track.

The next 12 months look set to be the same for Ricardo. The Australian has made no secret of his desire to not only regain his grid position in AlfaTauri, but to reclaim as much of his old Red Bull seat as possible.

Bayer explained that while the committee is in session, Marco remains the final say on the drivers. “Everyone is actually sitting at the same table,” he added.

“Obviously [Red Bull project director] Oliver Mintzlaff and [retired AlphaTauri team principal] Franz Tost played a leading role, but at the same time Christian Horner was also at the table. In the end, the decision will be and always will be made by Helmut Marko.”