AlphaTauri has been forced to delete a photo of Daniel Ricciardo days before the Australian makes his return to Formula 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
The 34-year-old’s new team has been widely criticised by fans after his move to the Red Bull junior outfit was celebrated with a photo of the former McLaren driver wearing his AlphaTauri race suit for the first time.
The problem is the photo was of sacked AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries with Ricciardo’s head photoshopped onto the Dutch driver’s body.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The embarrassing detail was easy for Ricciardo’s fans to spot and the struggling team was forced to delete the image after just a few hours.
The good news for AlphaTauri is that Ricciardo looked damn good when they were eventually able to post a photo of him wearing his actual suit.
The stuff-up left Formula 1 fans in stitches with gags flying thick and fast round cyber space.
Some fans have joked Ricciardo may be cursed after taking control of de Vries’ body just days after he stole his seat.
Others have joked they were clearly able to tell the photo wasn’t taken from 2023 because they could still see the sadness in his eyes that he carried during his miserable 2022 season with McLaren.
It seems the livery being set up for his side of the AlphaTauri garage at the Hungarian Grand Prix may be photoshopped as well.
It is not a good look for Red Bull’s little sister team with the outfit struggling on and off the track, leading to widespread fears among Ricciardo fans that the AT04 could be the end of his career if he is unable to unlock some speed from the car.
The AT04 has been described as the slowest car on the grid and the team has just two championship points for the entire season.
Ricciardo has moved to dampen expectations about what he will be able to achieve in the car.
Despite impressing while driving the RB19 around Silverstone, Ricciardo admits he has a tough job ahead of him.
“The car will be what it is,” he said.
“I’m going to drive it and work from there. I don’t want to get too much … preconceived ideas.
“I appreciate the car’s going to have its limitations. I’m sure they’re probably just lacking some overall downforce and things like this, but I think if it’s a car that feels balanced – it might not have as much grip as the Red Bull I drove a few days ago – that’s something I can work with.
“I’m looking forward to also developing it and using my experience, and ultimately, I think, for Budapest, just go out and have fun, try and use more right foot than left and have a good time!”
It is crucial that Ricciardo find consistent success in his 12-race cameo with AlphaTauri with the end goal off winning a seat on the Red Bull senior team’s line-up alongside Max Verstappen in 2024 or 2025.
Sergio Perez is contracted with Red Bull through to the end of 2024, but Ricciardo has done little to hide his ambitions of taking the Mexican driver’s seat.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner on Tuesday featured in a revealing appearance on the F1 Nation podcast where he admitted Ricciardo wants the second Red Bull seat next to Verstappen.
“Daniel firmly wants to be pitching for that 2025 Red Bull seat, that’s his goal and objective. By going to AlphaTauri he sees that as his best route of steadying his case for 2025,” Horner said.