Daniel Ricciardo admitted that his first simulator run upon his return to the Red Bull fold last December “didn’t go particularly well” as he looked to recapture his form.
An eight-time Formula 1 winner, Ricciardo is perhaps the truest example of the phrase: ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’.
This was perfectly encapsulated during a troubling period at McLaren, which despite including a win at the 2021 Italian GP, saw him fall out of a drive at the end of last year.
Red Bull swooped in and hired its former race-winner as a third driver, paving the way for him to earn an F1 reprieve with AlphaTauri midway through the recent campaign.
Prior to that, the Australian told F1’s Beyond the Grid Podcast that his first simulator test back at the Milton Keynes factory brought up a lot of mixed emotions.
“It was the end of last year,” Ricciardo said regarding his first sim run.
“Once the season was done, I jumped on the sim, I guess it was sometime in December before I went home for Christmas.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was also nervous because I’m stepping back into an environment that, I knew Christian [Horner] 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.”
Despite being offered a contract to stay with the team beyond 2018, Ricciardo decided to part ways with Red Bull and join Renault for the 2019 season.
Two years with Renault yielded two podiums – both of which came in 2020 when he finished an impressive fifth in the Drivers’ Standings – before his switch to McLaren.
Ricciardo said that initially departing Red Bull and his subsequent struggles for form at McLaren were playing on his mind during that first simulator test.
“Obviously, there was me telling them that I was leaving,” he added. “That’s going to have its effect.
“But I think in that second half of the season, I think we all got over it as best as we could.
“It didn’t end sour or bad, but I understand some people can be hurt or confused by it.
“I did have a contract available to me so it’s not like the team never offered me something.
“They did, so me turning that down and going somewhere else, I understand that
“And also, because I’m not coming off a high, I’m obviously coming off a pretty low season.
“I’m walking into the team that’s won the championship. So are people going to be like ‘who’s this washed up kid?’
“Or are they going to be happy to see me back and happy to try and like resurrect me a little bit?”
Ricciardo’s former Red Bull Race Engineer Simon Rennie said he was “definitely not as confident” upon his return, while Horner exclaimed the driver had picked up “bad habits”.
“Walking into the factory that day, I was definitely a bit nervous, but there was a part of me which was definitely excited as well, because I realised maybe this is another chance,” he noted.
“And who better to do it with than the team that really got me here in the first place?
“The sim that day didn’t go particularly well.
“Then obviously I went home for Christmas and had all this time off. I wasn’t completely myself.”
Ricciardo said that he wanted to be “mentally fully off” during his break “but then it got to a point where that drive and that hunger just built back up.”
Ricciardo’s drive was rewarded with a drive at AlphaTauri, with the Australian replacing Nyck de Vries from the Hungarian GP onwards.
But having endured the setback of a five-race absence due to a hand injury sustained at Zandvoort, Ricciardo has a full campaign ahead of him with AlphaTauri in 2024.
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