Ricciardo Opens Up About 'Nervous' Feeling Ahead Of Red Bull Comeback

Friday, 15 December 2023 at 23:00

Daniel Ricciardo returned to the Red Bull family in 2023, but he admitted that it was a nervous comeback for him.

The Australian raced for Toro Rosso in 2012 and 2013 before moving to Red Bull Racing, where he spent five years between 2014 and 2018, collecting two third-place finishes in the F1 World Drivers' Championships, along with seven race wins.

Those years can be described as quite successful for Ricciardo, but his departure from the team wasn't as he would probably have wanted, and that's why he was a bit nervous when returning to the team.

Ahead of the 2023 season, the Honey Badger was named as the third driver of Red Bull Racing, even though it was not expected that he would get behind the wheel of RB19.

However, after disappointing performances of Nyck de Vries in AlphaTauri, Ricciardo got his chance, and unexpectedly, he was part of the Formula One grid in 2023.

But it was before that when he had a nervous feeling when he was transferring from McLaren back to Red Bull. Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, the Australian opened up about the experience.

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"I think bad habits can just come in the form of a lack of confidence. It was the end of last year. Once the season was done, I jumped on the sim, I guess it was sometime in December before I went home for Christmas."

Ricciardo wasn't sure how would certain team members welcome him back in the team, even though he really likes Red Bull, and even shared that he would want to finish his career in the team.

"Don't get me wrong, I was also nervous because I'm stepping back into an environment that... I knew Christian was very open doors, but I didn't know how other people at Red Bull felt about me coming back into the family, into the team. So I was also a little bit nervous with that."