Apart from being a fine racing driver, Daniel Ricciardo is also a fan favorite and a renowned entertainer. This unique identity of the Australian driver could have been useful for him when he took some time off from F1 at the end of the 2022 F1 season. He wanted to start his very on podcast. However, he never revealed the exact reason as to why he didn’t, until he met with Matt Gallagher in P1 with Matt and Tommy.
Speaking about this, Ricciardo said, “I think the more that we started getting a little bit deeper into it, the more I was then maybe pulling back in terms of. I’m trying to like take things off my plate right now.”
Notably, Ricciardo was seen doing numerous off the sport activities such as having his own horse coming into the US GP in Austin in 2022. He was actively doing several things away from F1 at the moment.
After he lost his McLaren seat at the end of last season, he joined Red Bull as their reserve driver. This was certainly not a step forward but he still enjoyed what he did and now he has a full-time seat in AlphaTauri for next season after joining them mid-season.
How did Ricciardo make his comeback?
As Daniel Ricciardo was without a seat for 2023, he chose to join his old team Red Bull as the backup driver for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Given the enormous marketability of the honey badger, Christian Horner’s team took no time to have him on board.
While fulfilling his reserve duties, he took part in the Pirelli test after the British GP and it opened another door for him. Horner and Helmut Marko, who were impressed with Ricciardo, chose the 34-year-old to replace Nyck de Vries in AlphaTauri mid-season.
This acted as a chance for Ricciardo to show that he still has it in him. He even made some decent moves after his return. However, his luck didn’t favor him much as he suffered an injury in his wrist in Zandvoort and was out of action for months.
In the end, Daniel Ricciardo returned to take the seat from Liam Lawson and ended the season on a high. While he has a seat in AlphaTauri for 2024, many regard him as a threat to Sergio Perez in Red Bull as well.
