“surprised he’ not replacing Checko...
Rumor is that may be the case for 2024 if Daniel’s AlphaTauri ride goes well the rest of this year.”
I don’t think it is possible that he will do well for the rest of the year. The car sucks. Max would do poorly in that car.
"Doing well" relatively speaking, of course. If Ricciardo outscores teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the rest of the season, that is probably doing well enough to move up to Checco's seat.