Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he is ready for a return to Formula 1 next year to have a fairytale ending to his career. And the team he wants to race for is Red Bull Racing. However, he has no intention of replacing Sergio Perez in order to do so.
After the series of downgrade performances by Perez off late, there are talks regarding Ricciardo replacing the Mexican in the Austrian team anytime soon.
With no concrete reports emerging and Perez having his contract till 2024, the Australian will have to look at other ways, as he can’t directly be the replacement right away.
Despite the talks, it was the Honey Badger himself who cleared the air by saying that he was good by taking a year off in 2023. He also added that he’s content with the reserve driver role he’s been provided at Red Bull currently.
Ricciardo on his fairytale ending
Talking about his career, The Australian said that a fairytale ending would be a return to racing for the Red Bull team, where he currently serves as the third driver.
The 33-year-old stated in a report published by ESPN, “This for me would be like the fairytale. Honestly, the fairytale ending [would be] to finish my career here if I could have it all my own way.”
G’day @danielricciardo! 👋
Good to see ya, buddy 💙#CanadianGP #F1 @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/Lo8Ld9O5IV
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 16, 2023
“But we’ll see. I’ll probably have to work my way up a little bit but it’s really nice to be back here,” further asserted the former McLaren man.
The possibility of Ricciardo driving for some other team next year also cannot be denied. The eight-time GP winner was linked with multiple teams after leaving McLaren and now, a move to AlphaTauri seems concrete replacing Nyck de Vries.
Will Daniel Ricciardo be replacing de Vries?
After the recent poor showing by rookie Nyck de Vries in the Red Bull sister team, talks have emerged that Daniel Ricciardo might be on his way to replace him in the AlphaTauri seat.
However, there were no promising reports on this as well, and as a result, the talks have died down. On the other hand, Christian Horner has also praised Riccardo for his simulator work, which puts him in the good book of the Red Bull boss.
But his duties will soon be changed as the Australian is set to test the RB-19 after the Silverstone race this year. Earlier, he revealed in an interview with ESPN that he is a couple of months away from feeling what the car is like.
