Ricciardo was dropped at t🐬he end of 202🗹2 following another disappointing year with McLaren.

Unprepared to join either Haas or Williams, Ricciardo decided t༺o sign for✨ Red Bull as their third driver.

It proved to be a good decision as he was moved into AlphaTauri in place of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nyck de Vries for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

His comeback was put on pause after his crash 🌞at the Dutch Grand ꦆPrix, injuring his wrist in the process.

Ricciardo is nowඣ expected൲ to return at the United States Grand Prix later this month.

In an interview with 🐷Goodwood, he reflected on his McLaren exit.

“It’s never the way you want to end s💛omething,” Ricciardo said. “Obviously, the results weren’t there.

“I’m a pretty easy-going guy, I got on with the team, and I didn’t fall out with anyone in the team, but it’s all performance-based and, let’꧅s say, the business side of it didn’t work out.

“At the time, it was a bit of a harsh reality getting fired,ꦉ but by the end of the season, when I got home for Christmas, I was like, ‘okay, it probably doesn’t help my reputation’, but at that point, I didn’t care anymore. It was a blessing in disguise.

“I needed to step away for a bit, to re-find myself, re-find my love for the sport. If it could have been done in a better way, fine, but at the same time, I don’t think me finishing out 🅘the contract this year would h⛦ave done me any favours.

“I guess, in a way, I thank them for making that decision because we were in a bit of a hole, anꦫd I’m not sure we could have got out of it.”

Ricciardo 🐠admitted that he felt he lost “some of my strengths” during his McLaren stint - something that was echoed by Red Bu🐼ll team boss Christian Horner when the Australian tried out the simulator for the first time again in early 2023.

“I genuinely do feel that I lost some of my technique, some of m🧸y strengths,” he added.

“It felt like when things weren’t working I had to throw them away, and then I’d try some other stuff but that wou🎐l𒅌dn’t work, then my confidence would go down.

“I had thoughts that maybe I just couldn’t do it anymore. Period! A lot of stuff ꧙got lost along the way, and when I got back into the Red Bull sim, I realised I was not a very confident person. 

“In a way that was a relief for 🎃me, to see that I wasn’t operating at the level I thought. It kind of justified some of my performances.

“It’s not making excuses because those performances weren’t good, but it was clear to me that it wasn’t me operating at 100%. Yes, I should have been able to figur🍃e it out. I couldn’t, but it was a kind of closure for me that I had got a bit lost but I could rediscover things and get back to being me.”