Ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda has informed new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo that he has the same target as the Australian: to move to Red Bull.
Ricciardo will be completing the remainder of the 2023 season for AlphaTauri following the firing of rookie Nyck de Vries, who was axed last Tuesday whilst the Aussie was completing a Pirelli tyre test.
The fan favourite is returning to the Faenza-based team for the first time since 2013, before he moved to Red Bull in 2014 to replace Mark Webber.
Ricciardo seemingly sees going back to AlphaTauri has his best way to return to Red Bull, something team principal Christian Horner is aware of.
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Ricciardo isn’t the only driver pushing for a seat with the Austrians though, with Tsunoda also wanting to move to the Milton Keynes-based team.
Tsunoda believes whoever is quicker between himself and Ricciardo will have a better chance of making the dream move, with the 23-year-old recognising it as “how it works in Formula 1”.
“It’ll be clear soon, but either driver will be slower and the slower guy won’t make it to Red Bull,” Tsunoda said, as reported by Crash.net.
“That’s easy, the faster guy has more chance to go to Red Bull, it’s how it works in Formula1, that’s it.”
Tsunoda knows that Ricciardo will push him more than De Vries did, with the Aussie being an eight-time race winner.
The Japanese driver was excellent alongside De Vries and often got the better of him, but he admits Ricciardo is “not an easy driver to beat”.
He’s targeting to just continue what he was doing alongside De Vries though, with the Japanese star hoping that’ll be enough to claim intra-team honours at AlphaTauri.
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“It’s a challenge always,” said Tsunoda. “In the end it doesn’t make much difference, Daniel or Nyck, whatever.
“Anyway I have to do the same thing I was doing to Nyck, you need to beat your team mate, that’s the most important thing.
“Daniel is not an easy driver to beat, but at the same time I’ll do what I did in the last couple of races and it’s clear the faster guy will stay or go up, that’s it.”