Three-time Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert believes that Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon deserve a show of faith from a top F1 team. The duo raced for AlphaTauri and Williams respectively in 2023, finishing among the backmarkers despite their fine individual performances.
Seats alongside Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen at Mercedes or Red Bull are hard to come by. Current Silver Arrows side-kick George Russell is one of only two F1 stars to have partnered Hamilton since 2017 – the other being Valtteri Bottas.
Red Bull have been comparatively trigger-happy in the search for Verstappen’s number two. Sergio Perez has held the honour since 2021, and his contract will run until the end of next season.
The likes of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc have long been tipped for a move to one of the last decade’s two dominant F1 teams, but Herbert believes that there is serious talent further back in the field, too.
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“The only one that everybody keeps talking about, [Red Bull team principal] Christian [Horner] has sort of murmured that he’s done everything he expected of him, is obviously with Daniel,” Herbert told Express Sport, in association with OLBG.
“That’s the only thing that might come together with him, potentially. At Red Bull, I can’t really see it anywhere else. It’s late in his career. He’s not blown away [Yuki] Tsunoda. It’s a bit of a difficult situation.
“Outside of Daniel, the only one possibly who has improved a lot is probably Albon. But my question mark is over whether he is mentally stronger than he was when he first went to Red Bull [in 2019]. I think he has learned a lot. Would he deal with that same situation better? Probably yes. Would he beat Max? That’s always your question mark anyway.”
Albon exceeded expectations by picking up 27 Drivers’ Championship points last season – by far the most of any star not driving for Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin or Alpine.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, notched six points, but he was only brought into the fold part-way through the season as a replacement for Nyck de Vries, and a hand injury also forced him to sit out a number of races later in the year.
Both drivers name-dropped by Herbert will be out of contract – and therefore at liberty to make a move – at the end of next season, which starts with a trip to Bahrain in late February.
