Scuderia AlphaTauri’s lineup has gone through some turbulent changes in 2023, but the Formula 1 team officially set its driver pairing for 2024 over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
The team announced that Japanese driver [autotag]Yuki Tsunoda[/autotag] and Australian driver [autotag]Daniel Ricciardo[/autotag] will make up their driver lineup for 2024. The two are technically teammates at the moment, but Ricciardo broke his wrist in practice at the Dutch Grand Prix and is currently healing while New Zealand driver Liam Lawson is filling in for him on the grid.
Tsunoda, who was brought to F1 as a part of Red Bull’s driver academy, has spent his entire career at AlphaTauri. He joined the team in 2021. So far, he’s scored 47 career points with the team in 56 race starts — his best finish in F1 came during the infamous 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he finished fourth.
BREAKING: Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo will race for @AlphaTauriF1 in 2024!#F1 pic.twitter.com/HVUGyZO0Qy
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 23, 2023
Ricciardo, meanwhile, has been in a number of seats on the F1 grid. He came back to Red Bull after a previous stint there from 2014-18 in 2023 after leaving McLaren at the end of 2022, and he wasn’t expected to return to the grid this year. He was promoted midseason, however, when AlphaTauri driver Nyck De Vries was released from the team after a string of poor performances. Ricciardo had just two races in 2023 before breaking his wrist, finishing 13th at the Hungarian GP and 16th at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The performance from both drivers in 2024 could have implications for Red Bull’s second seat, which has been discussed more frequently as driver Sergio Perez has not performed to standard so far in 2023.
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