Minichamps 1:43 AlphaTauri AT04 – Daniel Ricciardo, Hungarian GP 2023 Art. 417231203

A 1:43 model of the Scuderia AlphaTauri AT04 as raced by Daniel Ricciardo at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix — his first Formula One race in seven months. Resin, navy blue livery, in a protective display case.

He had quit, and then he came back through the side door

Ricciardo's McLaren contract was terminated a year early at the end of 2022, after two seasons in which he had been comprehensively beaten by Lando Norris. He had no seat for 2023 and said publicly that he needed to fall in love with the sport again.

What he did instead of retiring was take the reserve role at Red Bull — the team where he had won seven Grands Prix and which he had left in 2018 to escape Max Verstappen. His job was simulator work, sponsor appearances and standing in the garage.

Then, in July 2023, Red Bull dropped Nyck de Vries from AlphaTauri ten races into a twenty-two race season. Ricciardo was given the seat with a fortnight's notice, and the Hungarian Grand Prix was his first race back.

He qualified thirteenth and finished thirteenth, which sounds like nothing and was widely read as evidence that he still had it — the AT04 was the slowest car on the grid, and his team-mate had been comprehensively quicker in it all year.

Two races later he broke his hand in practice at Zandvoort and was out again until Austin.

In the range

Set 417231440 is Liam Lawson's AT04 from the Dutch Grand Prix — the substitute who replaced the substitute.

Specifications

Scale: 1:43 · Resin · Protective display case · Limited edition · Age: 15+