Date: 23/07/2023
Venue: Hungaroring
Daniel Ricciardo’s shock return to Formula One with AlphaTauri is worthy of a special mention in our Hungarian Grand Prix predictions.
The eight-time grand prix winner was axed by McLaren at the end of last season but will make a surprise comeback in Budapest after replacing Nyck De Vries at Red Bull’s junior team.
Ricciardo, who topped the podium here in 2014, is 3/1 to record points in Sunday’s race in a special bwin price boost among the Hungarian Grand Prix odds.
The 34-year-old Australian’s career looked to be all but over after he was deemed surplus to requirements by McLaren following two underwhelming seasons with the British outfit.
He did return to Red Bull as a reserve driver, but now gets the chance to showcase his talents on the big stage once more.
Ricciardo said in an interview on F1’s YouTube channel: “Getting back to Red Bull, just the reception I had walking back into that team was in a positive way a little bit overwhelming.
“Getting back on the sim, I was a bit unsure how it was going to go, if the car would feel like it used to, if I was going to be like – for the lack of better words – ‘the old me’.
“But once I’d done a few sim sessions and started feeling like myself again, it brought me back to normal Daniel where I was falling back in love and ready to go again.”
Ricciardo said attending the Super Bowl in Arizona in February reminded him of the buzz of a competitive environment, while being at his home grand prix in Melbourne and then the Monaco race helped him get the Formula One bug back.
“I’ve enjoyed these six months off and it was really good for me but the more races I started to attend, the more sims I’ve started to do, I was getting the bug back,” he added. “And then jumping in the car a few days ago I thought, ‘Oh yeah’. It all felt very normal, very familiar.”
AlphaTauri sit last in the constructor’s championship after the opening 10 races of the season and Ricciardo is under no illusions that he will be racing a top-end car any time soon.
“I’m excited about it,” he said. “It’s a challenge for sure to jump in and try to hit the ground running. But also, I guess I feel like I’ve been through a lot in the last few years where I’m not really scared of anything that’s going to be thrown my way.
“It will be a challenge but I don’t know if I’d have it any other way.”
Red Bull equalled a Formula One record at the British Grand Prix with their 11th consecutive win, as Max Verstappen closes in on a landmark of his own.
Verstappen has won eight of this season’s 10 races, with team-mate Sergio Perez taking the other two.
The flying Dutchman also won last season’s final race and not since the great McLaren pairing of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost has a single team dominated to such an extent.
Mercedes had three separate runs of 10 successive wins during Lewis Hamilton’s period of dominance, with Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari team also hitting double figures in 2002.
Verstappen, meanwhile, is on a run of six straight victories, a sequence which has only been bettered on four occasions.
Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have all gone one better, while Sebastian Vettel reached nine consecutive triumphs in 2013.
It is 1/3 for Verstappen to prevail again in Budapest, with Perez next best in the betting on 11/1 in the Hungarian Grand Prix odds.
Lando Norris held off Lewis Hamilton to finish second at Silverstone and land his first British Grand Prix podium in his revamped McLaren.
“Pretty insane,” Norris said in his post-race interview. “Thanks to the whole team who have done an amazing job. It was an amazing fight with Lewis to hold him off.”
Norris is 5/2 to finish in the top three again here, but 5/4 for Hamilton to achieve the same feat will feature in many more Hungarian Grand Prix predictions and betting tips.
The 38-year-old has claimed a record eight victories at the Hungaroring and has been second here for the past two years.
Past Hungarian GP winners
2022: Verstappen (Red Bull), Hamilton, Russell
2021: Ocon (Alpine), Hamilton, Sainz
2020: Hamilton (Mercedes), Verstappen, Bottas
2019: Hamilton (Mercedes), Verstappen, Vettel
2018: Hamilton (Mercedes), Vettel, Raikkonen
2017: Vettel (Ferrari), Raikkonen, Bottas
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