Ricciardo Discusses His Life With Or Without Championship Title

Monday, 01 January 2024 at 09:00

AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo discussed his new perspective on the possibility of achieving the Formula One Championship title.

Daniel Ricciardo recently shared he thought he might never race in Formula One after the last race of the 2022 season in Abu Dhabi.

He then went through the "strangest of seasons," as he described it. The Honey Badger was out of F1 for the first ten races; then he returned for two before he suffered an injury and was out of the F1 car for another five races before returning back to finish the last five races of the season.

Throughout this period of time, Ricciardo worked on improving as a racing driver, but also on regaining some of his lost confidence. He said on Beyond The Grid podcast:

"I hope to be a better racing driver. That's what I'm working on. Do I still want to be world champion? Yes. Has it been a dream of mine since I was a kid? Yes."

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On the other hand, Ricciardo's perspective on achieving the World Championship shifted throughout the most recent season, as he revealed.

"But maybe it's just because I've seen Max, or whoever else, and they're still waking up the same person. I think you just take a little bit of pressure off it. It's not going to change me as a human. Therefore, it's not going to change my life moving forward."

It almost seems as if the Australian driver slowly started accepting that he might not achieve the World Championship title in his career. He continued:

"Yes, it will present some other opportunities if you are to achieve such a feat, but I know my mum and dad are going to look at me the same way, whether I'm a world champion or whether I'm not."

Not putting so much pressure on achieving the World Championship could make the 34-year-old an ideal material for the Red Bull Racing team, which is basically looking for a number two driver. Ricciardo added:

"It's probably a bit of perspective. I still want it and I still deep down believe I can do it, but it's really not going to change the course of my life."