Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that the possibility of any competitive Formula 1 track time coming his way in Red Bull’s 2023 car is likely to come in the form of a scheduled tyre test rather than any potential practice outing at an official grand prix weekend.
The Australian driver returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver over the winter period after he was dropped by McLaren at the end of last season, with Ricciardo set to work alongside the team’s two race drivers, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, throughout the year.
Although every team on the F1 grid is permitted to run at least one driver not in their designed line-up twice across the season at any point in FP1 sessions, the rules also state they must be a junior driver that has made two or fewer starts, eliminating Ricciardo from contention.
Ricciardo, speaking after the Red Bull season launch event in New York, has therefore explained while FP1 sessions are likely to elude him, potential driving outings could come at selected tyre tests during the year to supplement his primary focus of conducting simulator work for the team at their Milton Keynes base.
Asked about his driving schedule for the upcoming year, the eight-time race winner said: “So mainly from a driving point of view simulator will be the main thing I’ll do. I know there’s some events, I’ll do some show runs throughout the year.
“And not confirmed, so I’m not sure if it will happen, but I know there are some tyre tests so I would say if I am to drive this year’s car that’s probably more likely than FP1s.
“I think there’s maybe a couple in the middle of the year so that’s something that could be there, but mainly the sim work is the driving stuff for now.”
Pressed further on whether he would be willing to participate in those tests to retain an element of race sharpness ahead of a possible view to returning to the grid in the future, Ricciardo responded by claiming he would be interested in getting back behind the wheel – but not necessarily immediately.
“Let’s say I’m definitely keen to have a crack just to even stay kinda race fit if you will and so the body won’t go into complete shock when it hits 5Gs,” he explained.
“But I’m also [like] if there was a test tomorrow, I’m still good, I’m still happy to have a bit more time off. As the year progresses then I’m sure I’d put my hand up, but [I’m] not kinda foaming at the mouth yet, still happy to ease into 2023.”
With Ricciardo not tied down to any full-time racing commitments this year, the former Renault and McLaren racer was asked if the terms of his contract enabled him to compete elsewhere.
“Right now, I’m not really looking at doing anything seriously or competitively,” Ricciardo said.
“I kind of also want that mental time off, because competition is awesome, I really do love it, but it’s a lot as well and I think if I was to step into something else inevitably there would be a level of expectation.
“I’d wanna make sure that I could just have fun with it because I think that’s really what this year is as well. It’s a chance for me to take a bit more of a light-hearted approach on things and ease off so I think if I went into something that was gonna put a lot of pressure on me, I don’t know if I’d actually enjoy it or I don’t know if that’s really what 2023 is asking for from me.”
