That winning smile has finally returned.
Through the most challenging 24 months of his Formula 1 career, Daniel Ricciardo never lost his natural charm or joie de vivre. But by the end of 2022, it was evident that the persistent poor results – and endless questions about them – had taken a heavy toll on one of the sport’s most popular personalities.
Justifiably cast adrift by McLaren, Ricciardo was not treading water for long. Almost immediately, he was scooped up by Red Bull – the same team he had left behind for greener pastures – and embraced by his first F1 family once again, slotting neatly back into the fold as third driver.
Whether it’s rediscovering his sense of belonging, or the stunning sunshine of the Cote d’Azure, Ricciardo seems fully back to his radiant self when RaceFans caught up with the eight-times grand prix winner on the Red Bull ‘floaterhome’. But how does he feel being back in the paddock without any of the stresses that comes with racing?
“Less weird than I thought!,” he laughs. “For sure there was a little bit of… how do I say it… apprehension? Am I just going to feel like the kid that’s returning to his school prom a year later or something – you know what I mean? It’s like, ‘okay dude, you’ve been here before’.”
“I think what’s really made it feel better is coming back here. And people will say, ‘oh, he has to say that because he’s back with Red Bull’, but truly that has felt so much warmer than even I thought it would have been. So I think that’s given me so much more comfort being back here in this environment.”
Ricciardo ended a 12-year stint as a race driver in Formula 1 with the worst season-long performance of his career in 2022. One glorious Sunday in Monza aside, Ricciardo’s two seasons at McLaren were defined by his absolute absence of pace relative to team mate Lando Norris with no real explanation as to how the eight-times grand prix winner had seemingly lost his touch.
As a racing driver, there is little more soul destroying as losing your speed and your confidence for no discernible reason, no matter how many hours are spent scouring telemetry and data to determine why. Ricciardo candidly confirms that the challenges of his time at McLaren ultimately took a physical toll on him as well as an emotional one.
“I don’t want to like go too far and be like, ‘yeah, I was depressed’ or whatever,” he says, “but I certainly wasn’t always eating as much.
“I think I just wasn’t feeling right. I was honestly just not like my happy self, not my normal self. I think as well so much was going on last year, I could feel like I had this kind of nervous energy inside me. I didn’t have an appetite as much. I was just a bit scattered. So yeah, there was certainly like some of that. So I was a little thin.”
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In a sport where drivers are often at pains to give little away, avoid saying anything controversial or self-aggrandising, Ricciardo’s authenticity remains as refreshing as ever. As much as he is clearly enjoying not having to deal with the day-to-day pressures of being one of the 20 drivers on the Formula 1 grid, he also admits he already feels eager to get back into that exclusive club.
“It’s put me in a really good place where, so far, I’m getting exactly what I wanted out of this year,” he says. “I’m getting enough of a break where I feel certainly refreshed and happy again. But it’s kind of also reminded of me how cool this environment was and what it’s like to be in a place that I feel I can hopefully get back to a podium.”
Had he really wanted to, Ricciardo could have been back on the grid this season. There were teams towards the rear of the field who would have happily gambled on the question marks over his pace for his experience and marketability. But the 33-year-old says it should have been obvious to him that Red Bull would be the only place where would feel as content as he does.
“Before it all, I was maybe surprised,” he explains. “But then when I got here also saw so many familiar faces and how warm they were towards me and how happy they were to have me back in the family – unless they were lying to my face – that made me not surprised.
“I was like, ‘what was I thinking?’ Of course. This really is the place that gave me everything, so I was very quickly not surprised.”
But his third driver role involves many hours in the Red Bull simulator. After Ricciardo spent his first working day back at the Milton Keynes factory, team principal Christian Horner raised eyebrows by suggesting he had exhibited some unexpected “habits” in his simulator driving – a possible legacy from his time at McLaren.
“Obviously I can’t talk in detail on sims, because it’s a bit of a sensitive topic,” he explains, “but every team’s sim is a little bit different. So there’s adjusting to the actual car – which obviously every team has a different car – but also the sim is different across teams, so there’s also a bit of adjusting to the sim.
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“The first day at Red Bull when I got back in, I was trying to obviously adjust to that car but also the sim. It definitely took me more laps than I wanted at first and I think that’s it was probably looking like, ‘oh, he’s driving different’ or ‘he’s got weird habits’ or whatever.”
But through his time in the simulator – and the help of an old friend – Ricciardo says he is already starting to rebuild some of the confidence he lost behind the wheel.
“I think that it was when I was there that first day that I realised I’d lost some confidence in myself,” he admits.
“I know last year my results weren’t good, so of course I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m probably not as confident as I could be’. But you’re so in it that you don’t really realise truly how you are or how you’re viewing yourself. When I got to their sim, I felt a bit nervous. So it made me realise that it had taken a hit on my confidence.
“But then, on the flip side, the second half of the day then went really well. Now I feel like it’s been like I never left. And that’s really nice. I’ve got Simon [Rennie] who was my engineer – he runs the sim. So we’re at a really good place now.
“But for sure, the first couple of hours, I was still like ‘oh fuck… have I lost it?’. But we recovered. I’m actually really enjoying it. To a point where Simon’s like ‘alright mate, you can stop now’ and I’m like, ‘one more lap!’.”
Naturally, getting back into a rhythm in a virtual F1 car has got Ricciardo itching to get back into a real one. He’ll get an opportunity in July with a Pirelli tyre test, but a return to racing is what he truly desires. However, he is careful about getting too ahead of himself and not making any rash decisions just to get himself back on the grid.
“Obviously, I know what the last few years felt like, and I guess I just want to be careful not to jump back into that and just think that a year off is going to cure everything,” he stresses. “I think it’s certainly going to cure a lot of me, but that’s why I don’t want to just get too excited and think ‘yes, let’s do it’, because I miss the limelight and I miss being on Drive to Survive.
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“I’m very open-minded and I appreciate that, as good as I feel right now, I’m not going to have every option available – I might not even have an option available. Obviously, I hope I do, but I don’t want to be too narrow-minded, because maybe those options aren’t there.
“But in saying that, as I want to be back, I don’t want to be back at all costs. I don’t want to just be on the grid to be on the grid. I don’t want to be with a team that I don’t feel like I can get the car into a good position. I definitely want to be in a place where I feel I can thrive, but also if I can’t get straight to the top, I want to try to be in a place that could get me back to the top.”
But while he is clearly enjoying himself back at Red Bull and is still the same Daniel Ricciardo as he always has been, the one thing that is impossible to ignore talking to him is just how determined and convinced he is that he still has unfinished business in Formula 1.
“By the end of last year, I was not sure if I would want to come back,” he explains. “I was very open-minded to, ‘okay, maybe I spend Christmas at home and I’m like yeah, I’m happy with this life now, I’m going to go and pursue something else’. But I knew probably already in March that I don’t feel done, I don’t feel retired.
“I think as well there’s a part of me – and this might sound like ego, but it’s certainly not – I don’t want my book to close that way. I don’t really care too much about legacy, but I feel like it’s not the way that I should go out and I feel like I can still give more. So if I get the right opportunity, of course I would love to do that.”
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