Daniel Ricciardo was absent from the Formula 1 grid in 2023 but after Red Bull decided that Nyck de Vries needed to be replaced at AlphaTauri, the Australian was handed a lifeline.
Originally planning to take a year out from the sport after two tough seasons at McLaren, Ricciardo found himself returning at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
His comeback had its low points, of course, with him breaking his hand in Zandvoort and needing to miss several races after, but it also had some fine highs with the P4 he secured in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix and the subsequent seventh-place finish he earned in the race particularly eye-catching.
Back on the grid, and back smiling, Motorsport Week caught up with Ricciardo in Abu Dhabi to look back on 2023, his F1 return, and to look ahead to what 2024 and beyond may hold…
“There was part of me that was proud of myself for maybe going against some people’s advice,” Ricciardo begins when looking back at how he felt when the 2023 season began.
“Because, yes, there was a risk sitting on the sidelines, and if I did want to return it wasn’t guaranteed that I would be able to return. There was a lot of people saying, ‘Look, it’s a very high risk strategy you’re doing.’ But I think, then watching the race on the TV, I was just kind of at a place where I was like, ‘Alright, I feel good about this. I really needed this.’
“I was still very invested in it. Like I was watching very intently, but I was just proud that I was giving myself the time off, because I still hadn’t quite got my answer yet. I think deep down, I knew I still wanted to do it but I was still kind of just searching. I didn’t want to just be like, ‘Yeah, I still want to race.’ I wanted it to be, ‘I just can’t wait to be waking up every morning and to get back on track.’ That’s what I just wanted to kind of go through and build up over time.”
Clearly, in the end, he was missing the sport as he had no qualms about curtailing his hiatus to return for AlphaTauri midway through the 2023 campaign.
But when was the precise moment when he started getting the itch that only a full-time race seat in the top flight could scratch once more?
“So after Abu Dhabi [2022] and the season finished, I got to spend two months at home really, which was more than I normally ever get,” he answered. “And I kind of treated that two months like just be a normal human, just have fun with friends.
“Don’t really think about training or following a schedule, just kind of mentally switch off and just don’t really think about much. Just wake up and do what you feel like doing on any given day.
“I just needed to remove myself from [the sport] and really kind of get my answer to things like, ‘Okay, do I really miss it? How much do I miss it? What are the reasons why am I still doing it? Do I believe I can still do it at my best level?’ So I did that for two months and just had a nice time with family and friends and then got to a point where I was getting a little bit antsy, where I was feeling like I wanted to be training again, I felt like just getting in shape and just kind of felt like I had more to give than just being in holiday mode.
“So it was probably February where I was I like, ‘I’m going to the gym today.’ And then that just started brewing and then we got to Melbourne and that was the first race I attended. Being there I started getting a little bit of, and I wasn’t ready yet, envy [of the drivers.] So that was where I was like, I think I know the direction this is steering in, I’m just gonna let it keep, and I was like, ‘Man, if I get 12 months of this, I’m gonna be a frickin’ animal come 2024.’
In the end, he was only out of action for half that time, as he got the nod before Budapest hosted the latest edition of the Hungarian GP.
Some might have wondered if he was now coming back too soon when he was meant to be having his year out, but ultimately such concerns never entered Ricciardo’s psyche.
“I don’t think there was any downside to sitting out the whole year but now that I’ve done some races with the team and that I’m signed for next year, I do think it was good to jump in this year and kind of hit the ground running,” he added.
“I wasn’t concerned if I had to sit out all 12 months because I knew what it was kind of doing for me and I was getting back to a place that felt really good for me again.
“But I think once I did the tests at Silverstone, and I performed the way I did, I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go like I’m ready.’ So that that kind of set me up for agreeing that six months is enough. I’ve got what I need, now let’s go.”
As Ricciardo mentions, he is signed up for the soon-to-be rebranded AlphaTauri team in 2024, where he’ll partner Yuki Tsunoda once more.
The Faenza squad has been keen, amid some strong late-season form, to suggest that they are trying to step out of the Red Bull shadow and not be identified as a ‘B-team’.
While AlphaTauri will benefit from increased technical collaboration with the parent company, Ricciardo subscribes to the idea that it’s no longer a place only for young drivers.
“I’m definitely excited for what’s ahead,” Ricciardo says as he looks to 2024.
“The second half of the season was much more promising than the first half, and a lot of changes are taking place for next year. I think it’s also just the approach that the team will be taking. It’s no longer a junior team approach.
“And I think it’s one where, probably with me coming into the season as a very experienced driver, they can also see what it can do for development. I think it’s given them a lot of confidence moving forward.
“We can look at Mexico and get on the second row and we can show we belong there. Yuki, too, I mean, he is far from a rookie now so I think, it’s the wrong word to be like the team is going to take themselves more seriously, but there is kind of this feeling that we’re no longer just here to nurture young drivers, we’re going to come and try and score some points and fight at the front of the midfield, that’s really the target.”
A multi-race winner who’s fought for victories against the likes of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel in his career thus far, though, we ask Daniel whether he can be content with fighting in midfield, at least to start with, next year.
His response was telling as regards how he is feeling about himself in the sport now: “Yeah, I am. I think in just having the time off this year, I just reflected on a lot of things and I understood that a lot of the time you base your happiness on results but ultimately it’s about what’s going to make me sleep well on a Sunday night.
“And I think that it shouldn’t really always be result dependent.
“In Mexico, for example, qualifying fourth felt like a pole for me, finishing seventh felt like a podium, and that made me sleep good at night and I also appreciate that after where my career went the last 12 months or so, I have to go one step back to potentially go forward.
“I think also it’s just making me naturally hungry again because I’m not fighting for a win right now but the hunger I felt for jumping in a 10th-in-the-championship car at the time surprised me.
“I was thinking ‘Why am I loving this so much? Why am I enjoying qualifying 15th?’ I think that’s what I’m getting, just that that pure hunger back, that pure happiness of driving.
“And I know that if I can do a good job here, it then could potentially open up doors. My dream is Red Bull. So this is that phase where I’m in right now. And I’m just treating myself a bit like how I did at the start of my career. I’ve got a ladder to climb, and I’ll do everything I can to climb it.”
Potentially, then, a potent combination. Ricciardo has the experience that only a decade on the grid can provide but, now, has apparently got that mixed with the hunger and motivation of a driver entering the sport for the first time, provided by this second bite of the F1 cherry.
“I’m going all in on this second phase of my career,” he affirms. “But it’s funny because it sounds kind of contradictory that I’m also not carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
“I’m just going in with that feeling a little bit that I don’t really have much to lose. I was sitting here a year ago and I thought maybe this is my last ever race in F1, so all this for me feels in a way like a bonus. It’s like a second chance. Let’s just go and see where it takes me – I’ve got the confidence that I had however many years ago.”
And with that, our chat with Daniel wrapped up. Clearly re-energised and recharged after his break from the sport, he seems ready to attack 2024 firing on all cylinders.
It’s clear, too, that getting back driving for Red Bull is the long-term aim for him, and if he is indeed getting back to where he was when at his best in the first part of his career, then who’s to bet against him achieving exactly that in the end.
