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Ricciardo admits being 'ready to go' ahead of Red Bull return

The Australian made his mark in 2023

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 31 January 2024 21:57

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he didn't think his return to what he calls the 'Red Bull family' would come quite as soon as it did.

The Australian was called up into the AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB) team midway through the 2023 season due to a run of poor performances from Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries.

It meant a return to a full-time racing seat for Ricciardo, who had previously been released from his contract early by the McLaren team at the end of 2022.

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Ricciardo's return showed a lot of promise in the latter stages of 2023 - despite being hampered by an injury - and this led to rumours that he could make the step-up into the Red Bull hot seat and replace the struggling Sergio Perez.

Nonetheless, the so-called honey badger is focused on the job in hand at VCARB in the upcoming 2024 season, where he is expected to be involved in a hugely important team-mate battle with Yuki Tsunoda.

Daniel Ricciardo made his return to the F1 grid in 2023, with the team previously known as AlphaTauri

Daniel Ricciardo was released from his contract early at McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will take the Faenza-based team into the future

Ricciardo's Red Bull return

Now, Ricciardo has revealed in a LinkedIn post his thoughts while waiting on the sidelines during the early stages of 2023.

“A part of me knows, I like being back in the Red Bull Family, I know they can throw these curveballs, if you will, at you, so I try to remind myself to stay on my toes and be ready, just in case," the Australian commented.

“But yeah, I didn’t think it was going to come maybe that soon. In the end, this is where I want to be, I want to be back on the grid, and I was so happy being back in the Red Bull family that it was an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss.

“So I kind of just used all that as, all right, well, this is it. Like it reminded me of when I started my career and when Red Bull would kind of throw the kitchen sink at me.“

Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo