“They Still See Me as a Red Bull Driver”: Daniel Ricciardo Feels Glad About His Team Moving on From ‘Bitter Past’

Sabyasachi Biswas | 03/12/2023
“They Still See Me as a Red Bull Driver”: Daniel Ricciardo Feels Glad About His Team Moving on From ‘Bitter Past'

Daniel Ricciardo had his homecoming this year when he rejoined Red Bull Racing as a reserve driver. After returning to the family, the Australian has revealed how glad he is to see that Red Bull still see him as their driver and that the team has decided to overlook the past.

Speaking about this, Ricciardo said as per GP Blog, “I think the team has a lot of faith in me. And I think they still see me as a Red Bull driver and the results I had and not as a McLaren driver and the results I had so we’re all in a good place.”

Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of the 2018 F1 season. The move came after the Honey Badger found himself uncomfortable when he was paired alongside Max Verstappen. He initially moved to Renault where he stayed for two seasons in 2019 and 2020.

After this, the Australian driver moved to McLaren and this move was nothing but a disaster for him. After two years of massive underperformance, McLaren decided to part ways with Ricciardo.

This also led to Red Bull and Christian Horner believing that Ricciardo had become a shadow of himself with McLaren. Nevertheless, the 34-year-old is happy to have returned and is grateful for the opportunity in the Austrian team.

Daniel Ricciardo energized and grateful after Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s chance

Daniel Ricciardo expected to spend the entire 2023 F1 season away from the grid. However, Red Bull decided to hand him the AlphaTauri seat, for which he is extremely thankful.

As per a report published by Motorsport, the 34-year-old said that he “kind of feels a little bit maybe reborn again.” Admittedly, apart from being a really good driver, Ricciardo is also someone who has immense value in terms of commercials.

Ricciardo’s huge fan base in the United States and around the world makes him an ideal person for marketability and Red Bull used this to rope him in the team. As it stands, Ricciardo is reportedly also the favorite to replace Sergio Perez in Red Bull if the Mexican fails to live up to his expectations.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Christian Horner Daniel Ricciardo Max Verstappen Sergio Perez

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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