Daniel Ricciardo found himself without a seat for the 2023 season after he was sacked from his $15,000,000 per year job at McLaren at the end of last season. Halfway through the season, Ricciardo made an incredible comeback and returned to F1 with AlphaTauri. However, his former Red Bull engineer, Simon Rennie, revealed on the latest episode of the Talking Bulls podcast that Ricciardo doubted his skills upon returning to the sport this year.
Ricciardo joined McLaren in 2021 after a two-year stint at Renault. He spent the next two years with the Papaya outfit but couldn’t really impact the team except for a win at the 2022 Italian GP. After two disappointing seasons with McLaren, the team finally decided to terminate his contract ahead of the 2023 season.
Left without the seat for the season, Ricciardo signed up with his ex-employer, Red Bull, as a reserve driver, taking up promotional and simulator duties. Midway through the season, after putting in some highly promising performances when given the chance, Ricciardo was brought back to replace the outgoing Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.
Red Bull engineer reveals the self-doubt faced by Daniel Ricciardo
After Ricciardo rejoined the Red Bull family, Christian Horner revealed that the Honey Badger had picked up many “bad habits” during his time away from the Milton Keynes outfit. It took quite a lot of effort from his engineering team to unpick those habits and bring his level back to where it was before he left Red Bull.
Now, his ex-engineer Simon Rennie spoke about the same on the latest episode of the Talking Bulls podcast. Rennie told Ricciardo, “It felt like you were doubting yourself a little bit. And you were a bit concerned about whether you could do it again.”
He commented, “It didn’t necessarily click straight away in the simulator, and it took you – that first day that we did together, you still seemed a little unsure of it all.” However, Ricciardo made the best use of his opportunities and slowly improved his pace.
Ricciardo proved his worth in only one opportunity
It took him only one chance to prove his worth – the Pirelli tire test. Getting into a car after eight months, Ricciardo was immediately up to pace and set some blistering lap times in the test. The Red Bull patriarchs were immediately impressed, and he was offered a seat in AlphaTauri.
However, the dream comeback was cut short as Ricciardo sustained an arm injury during a free practice session on his second race with AlphaTauri. As per the latest update by Horner, Ricciardo seems unlikely to return, even for the Japanese GP.
