Daniel Ricciardo has started penning down a strong comeback story as he returned to the F1 grid with AlphaTauri last month. Following two disappointing seasons with McLaren, Ricciardo lost his place at the papaya outfit and couldn’t find a place for himself in F1. Now, after two strong races with his new team upon returning, Ricciardo revealed that he never wants to go back to dealing with a McLaren-like situation as reported by GPBlog,
After being dropped by McLaren last year, Ricciardo decided to take a break from the sport. He went on to join his ex-employer, Red Bull, as their reserve driver. However, after his eight-month-long sabbatical, Ricciardo had a change of heart and jumped on the opportunity to return to the grid when AlphaTauri came calling.
Daniel Ricciardo says he felt like the AlphaTauri suited his driving style from the beginning as compared to McLaren
“I felt a little bit more of it. On lap one I already felt like I was getting kind of the feedback that maybe I would expect or like, so that was important.”… pic.twitter.com/2ypht6Bz4G
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 15, 2023
Ricciardo stepped in to replace Nyck de Vries when the Dutchman lost his place because of repeated poor performances. The Australian has proved to be quite handy so far, taking absolutely no time to get used to the car and putting in strong performances.
Daniel Ricciardo is horrified at the idea of returning back to McLaren
The situation at McLaren was much more different for Ricciardo. The honey badger could not get a hold of the car and settle into the team. He was nowhere close to his teammate Lando Norris throughout the two years he was at McLaren. Finally, the Woking-based outfit decided that they had enough and let Ricciardo go at the end of 2022.
Things have been much easier for Ricciardo with the AT04. So much so that he is horrified at the idea of going back to a team like McLaren. Ricciardo said, “I don’t ever want to get into so much detail [to understand a car] again. I think even in the first year at McLaren by the summer break we were already in too deep. We should have changed the approach.”
Christian Horner says Daniel Ricciardo “met all expectations” on his F1 return:
“I think he met it. Seeing what he did at Silverstone in the tyre test, I think after that expectations changed, and he met all expectations.”
“What he’s brought to AlphaTauri is a huge amount of… pic.twitter.com/8ufLItan1t
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 11, 2023
The AlphaTauri car has suited to Ricciardo’s driving style and even though it is not allowing him to compete at the front, Ricciardo is hell bent on making the best out of this opportunity. This is because the Perth-born driver has a bigger goal in mind.
Ricciardo is looking at the bigger picture
Ricciardo went back on his words about taking the year off from F1 to realize his dream of making it back into Red Bull. He understood that the only way of doing so is to grab whatever opportunity presents itself. That is why, he didn’t hesitate when AlphaTauri came calling.
However, it won’t be that easy for him as there are a plethora of drivers waiting to replace Max Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez the moment that Red Bull decides to part ways with him. However, Ricciardo has to make the best out of whatever he has at hand. Right now his only goal would be to beat current teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
