Watch: Sebastian Vettel pays Daniel Ricciardo special visit at Silverstone test

Jamie Woodhouse
Daniel Ricciardo smiles in the paddock. Canada June 2023.

It was not only Red Bull keeping a close eye on Daniel Ricciardo in his Silverstone test, with Sebastian Vettel also popping in to say hello.

Having returned to the Red Bull fold for F1 2023 as their reserve driver, Ricciardo got his first chance to take the wheel of their dominant RB19 challenger at Silverstone on Tuesday after the British Grand Prix as part of Pirelli tyre testing duties.

It was more than just a chance to help Pirelli out though, as Red Bull were also keeping a close eye on Ricciardo’s times to determine where he stands for performance after his nightmare stint with McLaren came to an end, and the Aussie had another onlooker in the form of his former team-mate.

塞巴斯蒂安维特尔greets Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull garage

The pair spent a single season together in Red Bull colours back in 2014, that Ricciardo’s debut season with the team, before Vettel then moved on to Ferrari for the following season.

Vettel these days is enjoying his time away from the F1 circus after retiring at the end of the 2022 campaign but has been far from an unfamiliar face around the paddock in F1 2023, and he was back to greet Ricciardo as he prepared to take the RB19 for a spin. Literally at one point as it turned out. No damage was done thankfully!

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Could Vettel be next in line for a sensational Red Bull return? Probably not, but we have learnt to never say never in the world of Formula 1, as just days after Red Bull principal Christian Horner had said Ricciardo returning to the Red Bull line-up was not in their plans, he has taken a big step closer to doing exactly that.

Red Bull confirmed on Tuesday that Ricciardo had landed a spot at their sister team AlphaTauri on loan for the remainder of the season, replacing Nyck de Vries after only 10 races of the F1 2023 season have been completed.

The Hungarian Grand Prix then will set the scene for Ricciardo’s return to the grid, an event which he won back in 2014 during his first Red Bull season, that the second F1 victory of his career out of the current tally of eight.

Read next:All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

Daniel Ricciardo 塞巴斯蒂安维特尔

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