RB’s Daniel Ricciardo has expressed he is relishing his on-track Formula 1 return to Monaco this weekend, having been sat on the sidelines during last season’s round.
Ricciardo has sustained previous success around the prestigious Monte Carlo streets, recovering from the anguish of a lost win in 2016 to triumph from pole in 2018.
However, his premature exit from McLaren at the end of 2022 and return to Red Bull as a reserve driver meant that he missed out on the chance to compete last term.
The Australian was present in Monaco 12 months ago and has reiterated how viewing the modern cars circulate trackside whetted his appetite to revive his F1 career.
“I remember watching over pit lane, because obviously if you stand up there and you can see, you know, like the last sector, the chicane after the swimming pool,” he said.
“And I remember standing there with Christian [Horner] for, I don’t know if it was quali, maybe the start of quali. And I think he even said like, ‘you’re missing this, aren’t you?’
“And I was like, yeah, I said, ‘I’m really jealous right now of these guys’.
“Like in a way it was, it’s like, oh, you know, I feel a lot less stressed than I do sitting downstairs, but you just, there’s like, there’s such an envy where, I don’t know, the feeling of driving around here and having that opportunity to push a car to the limit is just, it’s so awesomely scary and beautiful and insane and intense that it’s like one of life’s greatest experiences.
“It’s hard to match a feeling like that. And I’m really excited to get that opportunity again. You know, that’s the coolest thing.”
Ricciardo pointed to his ex-Renault team-mate Esteban Ocon and his exploits last term as evidence that a driver can overcompensate for car performance in Monaco.
“For sure the circuit rewards a bit of bravery and these things as well,” Ricciardo explained.
“The driver can make the difference here, yes, but if you’re connected with your car, that also allows you to make the difference. So it’s a race where it’s like, oh, set-up doesn’t matter as much, but it can also matter even more because if you’re comfortable with a set-up, that then allows you to drive kind of out of your skin. So yeah, it’s something like that, but you can see it.
“I take my hats off to Ocon as well. His lap here last year [to get fourth], you could see it.
“I was watching it and you could just see that, oh, this kid, he’s so connected to his car right now. You can visually see the confidence in a driver around here.”
Ricciardo has been on the podium four times in Monaco, but he has not taken a result higher than ninth since leaving Red Bull amid two wretched trips with McLaren.
Lando Norris lapped Ricciardo en route to a podium finish in 2021, while the current RB driver qualified 14th and came home outside the points on his last appearance.
Asked whether Monaco can provide the most extreme swing in feeling, Ricciardo replied: “Yeah, it does because obviously I experienced those many strong years here with Red Bull and actually the year with Renault I had a good quali here, but then yeah obviously the McLaren qualis were not good.
“So yeah the highs are high and the lows are low because you know that if you qualify bad the weekend’s pretty much done.
“You can only be so optimistic on a track that doesn’t really allow overtaking.
“That’s why quali is such a powerful feeling around here and when you do the lap it’s just this crazy, crazy feeling of awesomeness. It’s just fun.
“You also know, even Max [Verstappen] last year when he crossed the line after hitting the wall probably three times in that last sector. And he’s like, okay, you got pole.
“In his head, he’s like, yeah, no one was willing to hit the wall three times. I earned this pole lap, you know what I mean?
“So there’s just this feeling of, like, I really deserve this. And like, I don’t know, you just feel like you, every part of it is earned throughout the year.”
Ricciardo enters this weekend having sustained a much more promising last two rounds, with a fourth-place in the Miami Sprint and a Q3 outing at Imola last weekend.
The eight-time grand prix winner has admitted that he has been running qualifying laps through his head in preparation as he strives to maintain his recent momentum.
“I’ve certainly visualized already some pretty high laps and that feeling,” Ricciardo admitted.
“Yeah, you know, I definitely come into the weekend with a genuine feeling of happiness and confidence and possibility.
“Yeah, so, firstly, I mean tomorrow, look, there’s no reward tomorrow so tomorrow I’m just going in with the excitement to drive this track again.
“And not in a casual way, but just a holy shit I’m just glad to get out here again.
“And then I’m sure after the few laps that I’ve done, I’ll be like, okay, now let’s fucking turn it up a little bit.
“Then you’ll start to see the confidence start to build and the possibility of maybe an awesome lap on Saturday.”
