Daniel Ricciardo addresses Red Bull split and teaming with Max Verstappen again
Ricciardo returned this weekend at the F1 United States Grand P﷽rix from injury, having returned to the grid full-time earlier this year with Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri.
His ultimate goal has always been a return to ☂the top t𒁏eam, though, amid a crisis of confidence in Sergio Perez.
Ricciardo quit Red Bull to go to Renault as Verstappen’s brilliance starting coౠming to the fore, and in the wake of a clash between them in Baku in 2018.
“It would be different,” Ricciardo said to Sky about teami👍ng with Verstappen again.
“I think it’d be very different. Just from 𒆙where we are bꦬoth at in our careers.
“ I always stan♐d by s🍌aying: ‘I don’t regret anything’.
“At the time, of course🐎, with everything that was goingᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ on? That was what I felt was the best situation for me.
“Am I happy to be back? And🍸 am I happy to be back in that environment with the people that got me here? Absoluteꦉly!
“Things are different.”
Ricciardo opted to step away from F1 full-time a𓄧fter being axed by McLaren last year.
He spent time as Red Bull’s third drꦗiver earlier this year - predominantly featuring in the less rigorous marketing scheduling - before being called up by AlphaTauri to replace the underperforming Nyck ꧒de Vries.
Ricciardo ex🔯plained how he is different afterꩵ his break: “I’m just more mature. I also know this isn’t a matter of life and death.
I put a lot into it but I’m also a little wiser.
“There’s a bit of a fear sometimes of retirement. You’ve had this one objective your whole life, you’ve woken up every day for the last 20 years💖 to do something.
“So when that goes? Okay, what? Who am I?’
“Fortunately, I felt like I 🍰was really happy as well on the sidelines.
“Do I believe I can still win races? Absolutely. Will I be a world champion one day? I꧋ would love to say yes but I honestly don’t know.
“I can’t🔯 say that ‘yes, it’s definitel൲y going to happen’.
“And if I ended up winning enough races which lea🐻d 🐻to a world title, then hell yeah!”
