20 October 2023 , 05:00
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Daniel Ricciardo insists he is "not putting pressure" on his desire to race again for Red Bull after earning criticism from Nico Rosberg.
The Aussie racer returned to the Formula 1 grid in July after half-a-season on the sidelines. He is racing for AlphaTauri for the rest of this campaign and has a contract for 2024, but quickly made no secret of his desire to get back to the Red Bull seat he vacated at the end of 2018.
Rosberg questioned how vocal Ricciardo was being about that aim just days after returning to an F1 race seat. "The one thing I will say, it's unnecessary, that Daniel makes it so clear that he is here to get back into the Red Bull Racing team," said the Sky Sports pundit.
"It's unnecessary extra pressure that he has set himself. I would have played that a bit differently and downplayed it a little bit."
That criticism was put to Ricciardo as the AlphaTauri racer sat down with Mirror Sport . In response, he made it clear that he does not have a blinkered view of what his F1 future might look like and said: "I'm not necessarily putting pressure on myself to make it happen.
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"After being around a few teams and getting back into it... obviously, the first half of this year I wasn't racing for the team, but I was doing all the sim stuff and being in the engineering meetings. It felt like I was getting the best out of myself again and I still want a chance to win races again one day.
"[Red Bull] is the team that fits me best and I want to win again. I'm not putting pressure on it, I'm just being honest with myself with the experiences that I've had now, that team is the best for me.
"In December last year, I wasn't sure that I would race again and I wasn't sure I would enjoy that semi-retirement, or if the hunger would come back. Coming back into the sport now, I don't feel like there is any pressure at all. It feels like a second wind for me and almost like a bonus.
"I'm taking it very seriously but also I know that every race that I do is one that I might not have done, so I'm just trying to use that perspective and that's a very pressure-free environment for me."
Ricciardo has missed the last five races with a broken hand sustained at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. He returns to action this weekend in Austin.