‘Should just give up’: Daniel Ricciardo backflips on explosive comment

Daniel Ricciardo has made some telling comments after finishing his season with AlphaTauri, showing one particular backflip.

Daniel Ricciardo. Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images.

Daniel Ricciardo says he’s been re-born after finishing up his return season with AlphaTauri last weekend.

The Aussie driver’s comeback — after he was brutally cut by McLaren — was ruined by a series of technical issues, but showed he can still very much mix it with the best drivers in Formula 1.

Ricciardo missed five races as a result of a broken hand, but still emerged as the man most likely to replace struggling Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, should the energy drink outfit axe the Mexican before the end of his contract, which expires at the end of 2024.

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The man known as “Checo” finished runner-up in the title race, but his 285 points for the year were less than half that of his Dutch teammate (575).

Veteran Formula 1 journalist Joe Saward has reported there are contractual plans in place at the frontrunning team if Perez’s struggles extend into the new season. Those plans include a suggestion Ricciardo’s salary would triple if he does get promoted to be Max Verstappen’s teammate.

“The (AlphTauri) driver line-up in 2024 will be Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, informed sources suggest that there is a provision in Ricciardo’s contract for him to switch into Red Bull Racing after the early races next year if Sergio Perez does not up his game,” Saward reported.

“I hear that if that happens Daniel’s salary will triple and Liam Lawson will come in to replace him.”

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen... teammates again? Photos: AFP

Those rumours help to explain why Ricciardo has been all smiles despite finding himself in the exact position he didn’t want to be in.

After walking away from the sport following his McLaren exit, Ricciardo made the explosive comment that he only wanted to race again if he could get a drive with a team that was capable of competing for a world championship.

According to reports, Ricciardo even turned down informal job offers from other F1 teams before gambling on his decision leave the grid when it became clear there were no seats available at Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.

“I still am at a point where it’s not at any cost, it’s not just to be back on the grid,” Ricciardo said at the Australian Grand Prix when asked about his future.

“A lot of the reason for taking this year off was that I didn’t want to just jump back into a car, any car just to be one of the F1 drivers. And I still don’t see myself starting from scratch and rebuilding a career and going at it for another decade.”

He went on to say: “So to go back and try to put myself in just any seat or something that’s fighting at best for a top-10 finish, I don’t think that’s going to bring the best out of me.

“So yeah, I see myself, at least in my head, wanting to go back on the grid, but there’s still some terms and conditions, so to speak.”

Christian Horner and Daniel Ricciardo look good together, right? (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

AlphaTauri finished eighth in the constructor’s championship — and Ricciardo appeared genuinely happy whenever he was able to climb into the top 10 in qualifying and race results.

It is a huge backflip from the man he was nine months ago.

“I still look back on this year as a positive,” he said in Abu Dhabi, according to autosport.com.

“Because sitting here a year ago, I was like, could this be my last race?

“I don’t exaggerate when I say that. I really didn’t know. I honestly thought it was 50-50.

“So, to have the year I’ve had and forget the hand, I just kind of feel a little bit maybe reborn again, is kind of the right word. I feel just re-energised.

“And I’ve definitely got a second wind. If I then speak of the hand, for this not to feel like a setback probably speaks volumes.

“I could see how maybe some people would see that lame accident with high consequences, maybe Daniel should just give it up.

“That’s probably just a sign that he should just call it a day. But I never thought that, I never felt like that.

“So yeah, that was maybe even more power to the decision of kind of trying to kick some butt.”

He recognised that he had said the complete opposite earlier this year.

My enjoyment in the sport should not be results-based in terms of yes, I’ll know what’s a good lap or what’s a good race, and that will help me sleep at night,” he said. “It doesn’t just need to be winning every time.

“And I think I came to the kind of place where I was totally happy and comfortable at that time driving for the 10th place team on the grid, where last year when I said I don’t want to jump back into a car if it’s fighting at the back, it didn’t make sense for me.

“But slowly it started to make more and more sense.”