Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso days

Not only does the Hungarian Grand Prix mark a welcome return to Formula 1 for Daniel Ricciardo, but also a resumption of his time at AlphaTauri after 10 years away.

After a strong finish to his first taste of Formula 1 for HRT at the back end of 2011, a graduation to Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) was the next step for Ricciardo in 2012.

His two year stint at the “junior” team proved to be one of the most important of his career, proving himself as a rising star and paving the way for greater things to come at Red Bull.

Daniel Ricciardo leads McLaren’s Sergio Perez at Monza during his final year at Toro Rosso in 2013.

The 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix will be Ricciardo’s 40th for the Faenza based outfit, but first under its current guise AlphaTauri with his last appearance at the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

All up he has scored points for the team on 13 separate occasions with a best championship finish of 14th in 2013.

Given AlphaTauri’s recent struggles, Ricciardo would be thrilled to get close to match his race result in Toro Rosso colours of seventh, achieved at China and Italy in 2013.

His days racing for a Red Bull backed F1 team could not have started on a bigger stage, Australia in 2012.

Ricciardo arrived down under with braces behind his trademark smile, but the experience of his first home Grand Prix did not faze him.

He shook off some first lap damage in the incident filled race to record his first points finish with a strong P9 following a switchback move on new teammate Jean-Eric Vergne on the final lap. 

The strong result sparked a competitive arm wrestle with Vergne that did not dissipate throughout their two seasons together as they fought desperately to be noticed by the top team.

A young Daniel Ricciardo signing autographs at his first Australian Grand Prix in 2012. Image: Daniel Kalisz/LAT Photographic
ref: Digital Image IMG_1052

Ricciardo was the more consistent of the pair, recording just one DNF at Monaco and getting inside the points on six occasions through 2012.

A scorching lap to qualify sixth in Bahrain was a major highlight, setting a time more than two seconds faster than his teammate which he still rates as one of the best in his career.

“I still think looking back on it, especially for my level of experience at the time, that was still the best Saturday probably of my career,” Ricciardo told the Australian GP podcast.

“Q1 was good, and then in Q2, I made another step. Then I got into Q3 and made another step. I kind of kept pulling a rabbit of a hat when the team was like ‘OK he’s hit the roof’ here, and then I’d do another one.

“It kind of came fairly effortlessly. I wasn’t overthinking, overdriving, it was very natural.

Daniel Ricciardo made a breakthrough qualifying performance at Bahrain in 2012. Image Andy Hone/LAT Photographic

“The Toro Rosso back then in 2012 was not the AlphaTauri of today. Q3 was pretty non-existent. It was the realisation that I do have this. That realisation was a little bit scary. ‘Alright this is it now, you’ve got it, so make the most of it’.”

But despite recording less points finishes and not qualifying inside the top 10 once, Vergne still managed to finish ahead of Ricciardo on the points table.

The Frenchman’s eighth place in the dramatic finale at Brazil helped him open up a six-point gap in the standings to finish 17th, one spot ahead of the Australian.

Ricciardo looked to build from his first full season in 2013, but limped out of the blocks.

His home race only lasted 14 laps due to an exhaust issue, while he was restricted to 14th in Malaysia after picking up damage on the formation lap.

Ricciardo bounced back in China with a strong seventh as his first points finish of the year, but this proved to be an outlier as the only time he got on top of Vergne across the first seven races.

Following Mark Webber’s decision to retire ahead of the British Grand Prix, suddenly the stakes were raised in the Toro Rosso dual.

Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo share a laugh as Toro Rosso teammates. image: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

When the news broke Vergne was in the box seat to replace Webber, having scored almost double the amount of points as Ricciardo across the first seven races and was fresh from his career-best finish of P6 at Canada, meanwhile the Aussie battled tyre issues at Montreal.

But with the pressure on, Ricciardo rose to the challenge and trampled his teammate.

After “assessing a few things and taking a different approach” at Silverstone, the “Honey Badger” did not take a backward step.

Ricciardo responded to qualify an outstanding fifth for the British Grand Prix, which he converted to points.

To complete the critical three-race run before the summer break, Ricciardo recorded two more Q3 appearances.

Daniel Ricciardo took his career to the next level at the 2013 British Grand Prix Image Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Although he did not score points in Germany or Hungary, the way he overcame set-up struggles impressed Red Bull.

From there Ricciardo carried on his momentum for the rest of the season, collecting four more points appearances including an equal season-best seventh in Italy.

Meanwhile, Vergne crumbled under the pressure and was not seen in the points again for the remainder of the season.

Just four races after Webber’s retirement, Ricciardo had done enough to convince Red Bull he was the man and overcame the likes of Kimi Raikkonen to get the coveted seat alongside reigning quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo performed in his first race after being announced as a future Red Bull driver with a P7 in Italy in 2013. Image Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Ricciardo’s dominance in one-lap pace proved to be the deciding factor, the Australian out qualified the Frenchman 30-7 across their two-year stint.

Ricciardo’s ability to trample over the highly-rated Vergne when it mattered was one of the early signs of the ruthlessness behind the big smile and put him in good stead for the greater challenges to come in the future.

A decade, 172 Grands Prix and eight wins later, Ricciardo is back at the Red Bull junior team this weekend.

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