Daniel Ricciardo’s RB19 debut date revealed

Red Bull Racing’s third driver Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the timeline for his first taste of the RB19. The former Renault and McLaren driver has announced that he will be running the RB19 for a test in July 2023.

A former Red Bull driver himself between 2014 and 2018, Ricciardo had short stints with Renault and McLaren before returning to Red Bull as their third and reserve driver in late 2022. 

Daniel Ricciardo said:

“I’ve been in the simulator, but I will drive the RB19 in July after the Silverstone race – I’m getting a Pirelli test.Then maybe I’ll get another one after Monza as well in September. A couple of months away [and] I’ll get to feel what it’s like.

“I’m certainly excited to drive a fast car, but also a car that maybe still feels familiar for me – it does a little bit in the sim. But I’m just excited to drive again and to just try to remind a team obviously I once had a lot of success with that I can still turn a fast lap.

“I’m definitely still in like a really good place – I’m very happy with this. Does it mean that I’m happy doing this for the next two or three years? Probably not. But I think for this year it’s certainly a good thing for me.

“I do want to… Right now, I do want to get back on the grid next year. I do feel like there’s certainly some unfinished business. I’m staying like in the loop and staying prepared and whatever. I’m also ticking a few boxes that if I do get back on the grid next year, and I’m on the grid for the next, whatever, five years, for example, maybe there’s things that I won’t get a chance to do. I want to tick some boxes for myself for like some self-fulfilment.

“The New York marathon got mentioned. I had a few friends run it last year and I was like, ‘That looks pretty cool’. There’s these sort of things that I’m thinking about and obviously in a regular season I wouldn’t get the chance to do, so I kind of want to put myself out there and do some things like that this year.“