Ricciardo reflects on extended deal with AlphaTauri
Daniel Ricciardo says his new adventure with AlphaTauri and Red Bull has given him a ‘second wind’ in his racing career after admitting he considered walking away from Formula 1 when he was dumped by McLaren a year ago. The Australian looked to be on his way out of the sport for good after he was replaced by Oscar Piastri, until his former boss Christian Horner handed him a lifeline as Red Bull reserve driver for 2023.
The 34-year-old has since been drafted back into F1 to replace Nyck de Vries, who was brutally axed by Red Bull’s special advisor Helmut Marko just 10 races into his rookie season. Ricciardo impressed in his three races before breaking his hand at the Dutch Grand Prix, giving Liam Lawson a chance to impress.
Ricciardo has since earned a full-time seat with the Italian-based team for 2024 alongside Yuki Tsunoda, with Lawson remaining as reserve and test driver. And in opening up about his feelings at the time when he was dropped by McLaren, the Honey Badger candidly opened up on how he pondered retiring from motor racing.
“Very excited to be with a contract on the grid for next year,” Ricciardo said, in a video with Western Australia Tourism. “This time a year ago, I was honestly unsure about really just what I wanted. I wasn’t sure.
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“My whole life has been racing and I’ve put everything into it, so you’re not really sure, okay, when is that time going to come where ‘maybe is it time for a change?’ I was definitely questioning ‘oh, am I going to have those feelings’ that this is it.”
Having received a reported £15million pay-off from McLaren to vacate his seat for the final year of his contract, Ricciardo took the winter break – summer in Australia – to enjoy time with his family and friends.
But he felt a yearning to get back into the daily training schedule and shortly after, found himself back at Red Bull five years after leaving the team. With some deep reflection, the eight-time race winner says he is excited to continue his work at AlphaTauri after penning a contract extension.
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And after finishing 13th and 16th respectively at the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix respectively, he is ‘hungry’ to get going as part of his ‘second wind’ in F1.
“The first part of this year I learned a lot about myself, and I think what I want and how I want to go about my career moving forward,” he added.
“It really reignited me and gave me that second wind that I was hoping for – but wasn’t forcing. So now that I’ve got that and have something confirmed for next year, I’m a very, very hungry young man again.”
Ricciardo will undergo a simulator test with Red Bull to establish if he is ready to return to the track for the Qatar Grand Prix after recovering from surgery on his broken hand. If not, Lawson will continue to deputise in his place for the team.
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