18 July 2023 , 09:41
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Alpha Tauri were forced to delete a photo of Daniel Ricciardo after they were called out for photoshopping.
The Austrian outfit will welcome the Australian back into Formula 1 for the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix. Ricciardo had been serving as a test driver for Red Bull but will now get the chance to jump back into a race seat with their junior team following the axing of Nyck De Vries.
The Formula 1 new boy struggled to make an impression and his failure to score a point ultimately cost him. Fans though noticed that, in an announcement post, Alpha Tauri had simply photoshopped Ricciardo's head onto De Vries' body - prompting them to delete it and repost a photo hours later that was authentic.
Ricciardo lost his seat at McLaren last season after failing to produce and was replaced by compatriot Oscar Piastri. The Australian has previously won eight races and ended McLaren's lengthy wait for a win when he took the chequered flat at Monza in 2021.
Now though he is stepping into one of the slowest cars on the grid as he partners Yuki Tsunoda. Alpha Tauri currently sit bottom of the constructors' championship with just two points, which were scored courtesy of Tsunoda's two tenth places finishes earlier this season.
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As a result there is concern over how much improvement Ricciardo can find from the package, despite his race-winning pedigree. Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz believes the team should've stuck with De Vries but is equally surprised Ricciardo chose to take the opportunity.
Daniel Ricciardo's face was photoshopped onto Nyck De Vries' body (right) before an actual image was posted (left)He said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast: "It's all well and good to point to [Daniel's] testing times in the Red Bull RB19, which is the class car of the field, but the reality is Ricciardo's not driving that car. He's driving probably one of the slowest cars on the grid, if not the slowest, which is the AlphaTauri.
"My only question is, not that they shouldn't have replaced Nyck de Vries – clearly it wasn't working ... the surprise is why Daniel Ricciardo would want to go into that car and a car that is worse than the McLaren he left last year, probably."
He has also pointed to Ricciardo's own words, which refused to acknowledge the name of the team he was joining. He added: Ricciardo said 'I am stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family' in the press release announcing his move. That quote, I thought was odd. He can't even bring himself to say AlphaTauri. There might be some short-term pain [for Ricciardo] if he can't do any better than de Vries."