Ricciardo had suspicions he would make F1 comeback when he signed Red Bull deal

18 July 2023 , 09:20

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Daniel Ricciardo will race for AlphaTauri for the rest of the season (Image: Getty Images)

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he always suspected he might be back on the F1 grid this season, having been parachuted in by AlphaTauri to replace Nyck de Vries for the remainder of the season.

Ricciardo had been without a seat on the grid after leaving McLaren following two disappointing campaigns and the Australian ended up returning to Red Bull as their third driver. However, Red Bull have now loaned him to their sister team for the rest of the season, giving Ricciardo 12 races to make an impact.

The 34-year-old will be back on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix and has now admitted that, given Red Bull's ruthless reputation, he felt there was always a chance something like this would happen

"I've been part of — obviously with a little interval or little intermission over the last few years — the Red Bull family for so long, and I know that these things can happen," Ricciardo said in an interview on F1's YouTube channel. "So even though I was, sure, taking some time off this year, in the back of my mind I knew maybe I would get a call.

"And of course I was on standby for Max or Checo as well if they were unwell or unfit, so I was always staying ready enough. It's an unpredictable sport, so I was just staying ready at all times."

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Ricciardo also opened up about the importance of his break from full-time racing after his difficult stint at McLaren. "It's good, it's really good! I enjoyed this… Call it six months off – I think it was really good for me," he added.

"But the more races I started to attend, the more sim I started to do, I was certainly getting the bug back, so to speak. Then jumping into the car a few days ago, I was like, 'Oh yeah!', it all felt very normal.

Ricciardo has replaced Nyck de Vries, who has been axed after just ten races (Getty Images)

"It was one of those ones, the very first lap, 'Oh, this is fast!', then within a few it's, 'OK, I want to go faster now!', so it was really good. Getting back to Red Bull and just kind of the reception I had walking back into that team was really kind of, in a positive way, a little bit overwhelming.

"Then getting back on the sim, I was still a bit unsure how it was going to go, if the car would feel like it used to, if I was going to be, for the lack of better words, like the old me.

"Once I'd done a few sim sessions and started feeling like myself again, it then just kind of brought me back to normal Daniel, where I was falling back in love and ready to go again."

Matthew Cooper