WATCH: AlphaTauri welcome Daniel Ricciardo back to F1 in the most wholesome way

Daniel Ricciardo was given a grand welcome at the Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 team after joining them mid-season, replacing Nyck de Vries who raced with them for 10 rounds of the 2023 season.

In a video posted by the team on their social media handles, Ricciardo was seen entering the headquarters with team principal Franz Tost welcoming him with a warm hug. The entire crew of AlphaTauri was standing for him, appreciating and praising his entry to the team. Tost stood right by his side, joining the rest of the crew in welcoming their well-experienced driver.

Here is the video released by the team.

Daniel Ricciardo will be driving with AlphaTauri for the rest of the 2023 Formula 1 season. This is his first permanent seat on the grid after having his contract with McLaren terminated at the end of the 2022 season.

He returned to Red Bull at the start of this season as their reserve driver and performed his duties well, however, he did not have a chance to drive an F1 car (the dominant RB19) until the British Grand Prix. In a post-race weekend event, he drove the car around Silverstone for a team test and his pace was found to be competitive enough.

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AlphaTauri team boss delighted to have Daniel Ricciardo in the team

AlphaTauri have had a tough first half of the season so far. With Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries in their lineup, there wasn't much that the team achieved. The latter scored no points meanwhile his teammate scored two, and so they sit at the bottom of the standings.

De Vries was warned about his performance and was in danger of being replaced, which ultimately happened after Daniel Ricciardo was still found to be competitive.

Since Ricciardo is a much more experienced driver, it is apparent that he could turn out to be an asset to the team. Franz Tost, the team principal, mentioned earlier that the Australian's experience will help the team to build themselves up, as F1 quoted him,

"I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team. There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight forward."

Daniel Ricciardo will be racing for the first time with the team at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which will be held from July 21-23, 2023. This will be an important test for the team, as their expectations now would surely be increasing.