Daniel Ricciardo insists there is no regrets, but instead he’s stoked to see Red Bull fight Mercedes, as Pierre Gasly mulls F1 future amid Helmut Marko praise.
With Red Bull now challenging Mercedes for the F1 title, by hook or crook, Ricciardo leaving them comes back in a form of a question every single time. The Australian had troubles with Renault in his first year, which is the similar case with McLaren this year.
Every time this happens when Red Bull is doing well, the questions come about in some way or the other. But for Ricciardo – as he has said several times – it doesn’t affect him. In fact, the Australian is ‘stoked’ for his former team to be able to challenge Mercedes.
“I don’t have regrets,” started Ricciardo in the press conference. “I think I made every decision for a reason and every decision you make is a time or a moment in your life that is right or best at that time. I certainly don’t look back with regret or I don’t question anything. I look at their results this year – I guess that’s probably where the question comes from, ‘do I think that could have been me?’
“But I look at that and I’m honestly happy for them. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be doing the winning, but I’m happy for them that they’re challenging Mercedes and they look like they’re in a real hunt for the title this year. I briefly caught up with Christian in Austria and a few of the Red Bull guys and I was actually stoked that they’re doing what they’re doing. Certainly no regrets,” summed up Ricciardo.
While the doors for Ricciardo is seemingly closed at Red Bull, they are still to decide Max Verstappen’s teammate for 2022 and beyond. One name that never leaves the space is Gasly, who had a meeting with Helmut Marko between Austria and UK races.
Marko was full of praise for Gasly and his fightback after the Red Bull drop, but didn’t readily stated that the Frenchman can return to Red Bull, with Sergio Perez also in the play. When asked about the meeting and his chances, the AlphaTauri driver was a bit subdued.
“I think it’s fair [comment from Marko],” started Gasly. “I’ve improved now with more experience, I’ve grown up a bit. Knowing the team also better: I’ve been working with them for a few years and I think we have a good working relationship, we know exactly what we need from each other. So I think it’s a fair comment.
“I had a good conversation with Helmut in Graz last week. We’ll see what happens for next year at the moment. I’m just focusing on myself and my own performance, trying to bring as many points as possible to the team because we are doing a very strong season, fighting for the fifth position which never happened for the team and I really hope we can get this at the end of the year so that’s the first priority and we’ll see what happens for next year a bit later in the year,” summed up Gasly.
When asked where does he see himself in the coming years and if AlphaTauri is fine for him, Gasly was in a mixed position, as the Frenchman agreed that while racing with the team is a good thing, he wishes to fight for better positions and at the front.
“I’m performing very well with AlphaTauri, I’m really happy with what we are doing,” said Gasly. “But obviously, personally, I’d like to be in a position to fight for better positions. It doesn’t mean I am not happy with where I am. It’s just a personal target and what I want to achieve in Formula 1. But as I said it’s not a decision which will be made in the next few days. My future at the moment is in Red Bull’s hands and we’ll see what happens for next year, I’m sure, in a couple of weeks.”
Here’s Daniel Ricciardo on F1 2022 livestream message
