Daniel Ricciardo has expressed how he believed he was the best driver in Formula 1 until his disastrous two-year McLaren stint.
The Australian managed to score seven grand prix wins during five years with Red Bull without ever acquiring the opportunity to launch a sustained bid for the title at any stage.
With Max Verstappen’s growing emergence, Ricciardo made a surprise exit to Renault but after a year elected to trade Enstone for a move to a McLaren team in 2021 on the ascendancy.
Despite beating Lando Norris to claim McLaren’s first win since 2012 at the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo was comprehensively beaten by the Brit throughout their debut season together.
The reset to the technical regulations and McLaren’s troubles exasperated his struggles in papaya colours further in 2022 as the Australian amassed only 37 points to his team-mate’s 122, resulting in Ricciardo being let go at the end of the season before the expiry of his contract.
Now enduring a year on the sidelines, Ricciardo has recounted how the McLaren years were tough in exposing to him the weaknesses he retains as a driver.
“I’ll always take some responsibility or accountability,” he conceded via Speedcafe.
“For many years, I truly believed I was the best, and I am the best in the world, so whatever the situation, I’ll be able to overcome it.
“And obviously with McLaren it was tough for me to do that.
“So yeah, I was aware that I’m not the perfect driver, I do have weaknesses, so I’ll always hold something on to myself.”
Months on from his departure from the Woking-based side, Ricciardo admits he would have done several things differently if he could repeat his time at McLaren again.
“Having a bit of a chance to remove myself from it and now looking back on the last two years, I would have done things differently if I had that time again, or maybe ask more questions or been a little bit more demanding,” he conceded.
“But you also live and you learn, so I don’t look back with regret. That was a situation and I got through it.”
Ricciardo made his first appearance at an F1 weekend since his McLaren exit at the most recent round in Australia and admitted the buzz of his home event heightened his desire to return.
Having opted to not pursue another full-time seat on the grid, Ricciardo secured a return to Red Bull in the role of the reigning champion’s reserve driver for 2023.
Since marking his comeback to the group that brought him through the racing ranks, Red Bull boss Christian Horner underlined that Ricciardo’s recent runs in the simulator suggested he had picked up some unrecognisable driving habits since he departed.
The Perth-born individual has asserted that his confidence was severely dented by the challenging ordeal he suffered at McLaren but his return to a familiar environment at Red Bull has immediately reinvigorated him.
“And now, getting back into Red Bull, I felt as well I was certainly a little bit… my confidence was probably not what it used to be as well,” he professed.
“Even I was a little bit probably timid getting into the simulator, trying to downplay how it was going to go.
“But as the day went on, the more comfortable I felt, and the more it just felt like I was kind of back home in a car that I honestly felt comfortable with.
“So yeah, let’s say everything felt like it was pretty recharged after that first day.”
