Red Bull chief: 'Retrieving Ricciardo also for PR reasons'

Last season, Daniel Ricciardo had to say goodbye to the F1 grid, at least as a first driver. He did not perform well at McLaren and had to make way for Oscar Piastri. Still, not all hope is lost for the Australian - his old team Red Bull Racing took him on as a reserve driver and advisor Helmut Marko has made some new statements about this.

Although Sergio Perez is currently doing well alongside Max Verstappen, there are those hoping that Ricciardo can one day take his place on the grid. In that respect, the 33-year-old is currently in a handy position with the Austrian team. Marko explains at Sport1 that they hired him for other reasons as well: "He has already had great PR events for Red Bull. That was one of the reasons why we brought him back."

Is Ricciardo still capable of performing?

Charm and humour are pluses for the driver, but in the end, it still comes down to his performances. Asked whether Ricciardo still knows how to drive after the many disappointments at McLaren, Marko replied: "It is difficult to judge what went wrong. At Renault, he already had some problems. I am sure he will do one or two tyre tests for us soon, then we will get more clarity."

So the future has yet to tell us whether Ricciardo's hiring was mainly useful to support the team and keep the PR machine running, or whether he might actually be able to drive alongside the Dutch world champion again.