Daniel Ricciardo says he doesn’t wish to dictate the second phase of his F1 career to race wins but more on doing unexpected things.
Having had a rough patch with McLaren in the last couple of F1 seasons, AlphaTauri’s Ricciardo now wants to enjoy the second phase of his career where he has gotten a chance to compete again and with some confidence to take on the fight.
It wasn’t an easy return with AlphaTauri where he injured his hands but upon coming back from that, Ricciardo qualified fourth in Mexico and scored handy points. Results like these where the car had no business to be up there is what he is looking for now.
A win will be a bonus but he won’t let his happiness in sport being dictated by results where win or a podium is only the joys while other things are not so joyful. “I think it is just to try and get the most out of what I have,” said Ricciardo when asked what he wants from the second phase of his F1 career.
“Obviously, now I am talking about results but a weekend like Mexico, that’s a weekend where I felt everything I needed to feel again. Obviously the team was very happy, everyone was happy, and those things help everything move forward. It’s just really about trying to have those weekends.
“Okay, it doesn’t have to be always a fourth place in qualifying or whatever. It’s to put the car in a position where people don’t expect to see that car, and that’s the stuff that excites you. The fourth felt like a pole position because, yeah, it felt like the AlphaTauri this year had no place to be on the second row of the grid. It just didn’t ever look like that.
“That sort of stuff gets me excited. It definitely gets the butterflies going inside me. And if that can happen, then obviously it could open up doors later on to fight for wins again. As much as I want to win again, it is really I believe I can but I’m not going to dictate this second phase of my career just on that, you know, dictate my happiness, dictate how I classify success in the second phase.
“To win again would be a bonus. It’s also given me a little bit of, I feel like I’m not carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, and it’s kind of nice,” summed up Ricciardo, who admits that post the happenings at McLaren, he was looking for answers and even validity that he still has in himself to do the job and that he hasn’t lost his mojo.
And the opportunity to be back with the Red Bull family did help him get those answers, even if it was time spent in the simulator to begin with. “I wanted to get some answers, just for my own peace of mind,” said Ricciardo. “I would speak to some people in the paddock just in passing even, or you might bump into someone at breakfast at the hotel, and I would get some positive feedback or encouragement in terms of, ‘I’ve seen what people are saying, they think you’ve forgotten how to drive.
“It’s bullsh*t, you don’t forget how to drive overnight’ and the kind of, ‘don’t lose your confidence, you’ll find your way back if you want it’ – so there’s definitely some positive stuff like that. That’s why as soon as I spoke with Helmut and Christian towards the end of last year, and the thought of just being back in that family and just even having a go on the simulator, having some data with Max again, and then obviously Checo, I was like, ‘okay, even if it’s a simulator, I just kind of want to see if I can still do it and if the car feels the way I want it to feel’.
“I was curious because, as much as the McLaren I felt, obviously, it didn’t suit me, I felt like it was certainly compounded over time with my confidence dropping and getting kind of lower and lower, after obviously taking quite a few punches in the gut. So yeah, a lot of things I wanted to answer,” summed up Ricciardo.
Here’s Daniel Ricciardo on time off helping him
Here’s Franz Tost realising early on troubles
Here’s AlphaTauri pair during Honda Thanks Day
Here’s Franz Tost on his F1 career and more
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact