Formula 1: Daniel Ricciardo reflects on 2023 comeback, his Red Bull goal and the moment that put him back on the F1 grid
Daniel Ricciardo has reflected on his comeback to the F1 grid as he outlined his ultimate goal and made a big call about his team and his own ambitions for 2024.
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Daniel Ricciardo is still dreaming of a “perfect” finish to his Formula One career at Red Bull as he predicted AlphaTauri would no longer be just the squad’s “junior team” next season.
Reflecting on his comeback to F1, when he returned after a six-month sabbatical from the sport to recapture his hunger on the track this year, Ricciardo made it clear the ultimate goal in the second act of his career was to get himself back in a Red Bull seat.
After a challenging stint at McLaren, Ricciardo returned to the Red Bull family this year, firstly as the team’s third driver before being parachuted into an AlphaTauri seat mid-season to replace the axed Nyck De Vries.
The 34-year-old will be back for AlphaTauri again next year but told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast his dream was to return to the team with whom he raced from 2014-18.
Asked if his end game was a Red Bull seat in 2025, Ricciardo did not put a timeline on his ambitions but said it would be the “perfect” end to his career to finish with the team.
“I am not going to put a day or date on it, or a year whatever, but coming back into it and jumping back in with the Red Bull family, that is really the dream,” Ricciardo said.
“To end my career as a Red Bull driver would be perfect.
“Not that I am looking at the end, but if I got back there I would make sure I finished there.”
Ricciardo’s F1 comeback was hampered by a broken hand he suffered just two races into his return when he crashed during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.
He managed a season-high finish of seventh place at the Mexican Grand Prix in his second race back after surgery and is hungry to show more of what he can do next year.
Ricciardo was confident there was a lot more potential for AlphaTauri next season.
“It is probably the first off-season that I will want to not go too long in terms of I just want to keep racing,” Ricciardo said.
“Now that I am back in it and missed time with the hand and missed the first half of the season, I feel like I just want to get going, so I am excited for next year.
“It is really going to be a change, the whole mentality of the team. It is no longer just a junior team.
“It is going to be more than that and get a lot more involved with Red Bull, as much as I can within the rules.
“There is a lot more potential that a team like this can show. Even in the last part of the year we were 10th in the championship and we were fighting for seventh.
“It turned around really quickly and the team recognised that, so I am excited for what lies ahead.
“I am hungry, motivated, happy and determined.”
An eight-time Grand Prix winner, Ricciardo said he was going “all-in” on what he called his “second chance” in F1 but his time out of the sport had also given him more perspective.
While he believed he still had the potential to be the best in the world, he said such goals would not define his career.
“Do I still want to be world champion? Yes,’’ Ricciardo said. “Has it been a dream of mine since I was a kid? Yes.
“Maybe it’s just because I’ve seen Max (Verstappen), or whoever else and they are still waking up the same person.
“It’s just that you take a little bit of pressure off it. It’s not going to change me as a human, therefore it’s not going to change my life.
“I know my mum and dad are going to look at me the same way whether I’m a world champion or not.
“There is probably a bit of perspective. I still want it and I still deep down believe I can do it, but it’s really not going to change the course of my life.”
Ricciardo also reflected on the moment that kickstarted his comeback – his test behind the wheel of the RB19 at Silverstone in July.
He said he spun twice in a jittery start before nailing the first timed lap of his second run, which catapulted him into the AlphaTauri seat.
“I knew if this test went well, things could change quickly,” Ricciardo said. “I really believed I could do a great test.
“(I thought) ‘It’s up to you now, this is in your hands. Honestly, your future could hang on it.’ It was good to feel that pressure again.”
“In the first run, I actually spun twice. At turn four I had a spin, very low-speed hairpin, just a little bit eager on the throttle. Then I had a spin at turn seven, another slow-speed corner and I did a tiny little loop and got it going, but it wasn’t like I was in the gravel or anything.
“The very first time I went through turn one at high speed, I thought my helmet was going to fly off. You forget how intense it is on your body and how fast these cars are.
“I did eight to 10 laps then came back in. We put some new tyres on and FP2 fuel in the car and I am not going to sugar-coat it, the first timed lap I did was on the money.
“Crossing the line, when I looked at the time, I did not expect to go that quick.
“That gave me a very big smile.”
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