Daniel Ricciardo made his debut for Red Bull back in 2014 and quickly became one of the most popular figures on track. He won seven races during his time with the Austrian squad and finished in the podium places 29 times. However, midway into the 2018 campaign, he decided to leave Red Bull in search of a new challenge and joined Renault.
Ricciardo spent two years at Renault, but they were hugely underwhelming. The Enstone-based outfit’s car was firmly in the midfield positions and the Aussie could only manage to finish on the podium twice in two years. He wanted to drive for a team that would give him an opportunity to fight further up the field, so he joined McLaren in 2021, a team that was on an upward trajectory.
Unfortunately for Ricciardo, his McLaren stint turned out to be a nightmare for him. Over the course of two years, his teammate Lando Norris comprehensively outperformed him, and despite having a contract until the 2023 season, Ricciardo was sacked in 2022 itself.
Daniel Ricciardo admits he took a huge gamble while leaving Red Bull
After being axed by McLaren, Ricciardo was left without a seat for the 2023 season. However, he planned on not losing touch with the sport, so he returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver. As a result, he will spend the upcoming campaign from the sidelines.
Ricciardo left Red Bull in search of a new challenge and to become successful elsewhere, but after four years of struggle, he is finally back at the team where he spent his best F1 years in. This has led to many people questioning if he regrets his move to Renault back in 2019. The Perth-born driver is adamant that he has zero regrets.
“Obviously at the time I felt like it was right for me,” he said to F1.com. “I felt like I needed a change. And I needed to kind of just remove myself a bit. It’s not a sure thing that it would have been great if I stayed. I don’t look back and say, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have left’. But, of course, I can be honest with myself and say, ‘Yeah, I took a little bit of a gamble on myself’.”
Between his Renault and McLaren spells, it shouldn’t come as surprise that Ricciardo preferred the former. He brought the team back to the front by finishing in the podium places twice. Meanwhile, even the high of winning a race for McLaren couldn’t compensate for the number of times he struggled with the Woking-based team.
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