Red Bull once again took the F1 world by storm on Tuesday afternoon, with the bombshell news that Daniel Ricciardo would be returning to the sport with their sister team AlphaTauri.
The return of Ricciardo comes after he spent the first half of the year conducting simulator work for Red Bull, and a reportedly impressive performance at a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone in the aftermath of the British Grand Prix.
His "loan" to AlphaTauri comes at the expense of 2021 Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, and will put additional pressure on Red Bull driver Sergio Perez for a 2024 seat, whose performances have paled in comparison to teammate Max Verstappen in 2023.
As Verstappen marches onward towards a third consecutive F1 title, Perez continues to struggle in the same car.
Verstappen has won the last six races, and taken five straight pole positions. Meanwhile, Perez has failed to reach Q3 on five consecutive occasions, and has only one podium since early May.
Though the obvious choice may appear to be Ricciardo, should Red Bull choose to fire Perez, reports in Italy suggest the team may have other plans in mind further down the line.
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Red Bull: Reports suggest Charles Leclerc approach
Formu1a Uno suggest that Red Bull are seeking to form a "Dream Team" duo of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc from 2025 or 2026.
With Ferrari the strongest challengers to Red Bull in 2022, Leclerc managed to win three races and claim second place in the championship. The Monégasque has found things harder in 2023, but nonetheless remains the only non-Red Bull man to claim a pole position this season.
Max Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix (Photo: Shutterstock)
Leclerc is widely seen as the man most likely to challenge Verstappen from the stacked generation of up-and-coming drivers. With Red Bull's domination only growing in 2023, Liberty Media are said to be eager to put a driver of Verstappen's calibre alongside the Dutchman to create a title fight akin to the 2021 duel between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
The Formu1a Uno report states that Red Bull held tentative talks with Leclerc in May, to explore whether the 25-year-old would be willing to leave Ferrari when his contract expires at the end of 2024. The same report suggests that Aston Martin have also been in contact with Leclerc, and that Red Bull are also exploring the possibility of poaching Lando Norris from McLaren.
By the time 2025 comes around, it is likely F1 will have lost at least one of Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso to retirement, leaving Verstappen and Leclerc as the two finest drivers left in the sport. The prospect of the two of them facing off in an equal championship-contending car is something not seen since the days when McLaren ran their star-studded (and explosive) driver duos of the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s.
It may be a long-shot, but we may have F1's latest blockbuster duo on our hands in the years to come.
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