Interview: Jean Alesi backs Daniel Ricciardo to win in F1 again as he reflects on McLaren/Piastri saga

Former Formula 1 driver Jean Alesi believes Daniel Ricciardo can still win in the sport, with the Aussie looking like he could potentially leave McLaren at the end of the year.

The F1 summer break kicked off in pretty dramatic style with the driver market whirring into life, as Fernando Alonso confirmed a move to Aston Martin for 2023 to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel, in turn generating a void at Alpine.

The French/British team took to Twitter to say Oscar Piastri had been promoted to drive for them alongside Esteban Ocon next year soon after, but the young Australian then went viral saying that he’d not agreed to such a move, with it being reported that he could replace Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren for 2023.

Nothing is certain right now, then, with it quite possible this situation is going to rumble on for a while but if Ricciardo does leave, it will bring down the curtain on what he admits has been a disappointing spell at McLaren.

A multi-Grand Prix winner, there’s no denying his talent behind the wheel, however, and Alesi believes that he can still win races in the future providing he gets a good move to the right team.

“Daniel is one of the biggest characters in Formula 1,” Alesi told Give Me Sport.

“I don’t know one person when I meet F1 fans who is not talking about him because he is loved by everybody.

“For sure, Lando [Norris] is a new star for Formula 1 and with Daniel, sometimes you are struggling with a car, with new regulations, but there’s no doubt he will find a good place to end again back on the top.

“I like Daniel so much and I like also this movement of the drivers in F1. That’s great and is what we want. We want to see a Ronaldo leaving Juventus and going to Manchester United situation.”

Ales