That profitable smile has lastly returned.
Via essentially the most difficult 24 months of his Formulation 1 profession, Daniel Ricciardo by no means misplaced his pure allure or joie de vivre. However by the tip of 2022, it was evident that the persistent poor outcomes – and limitless questions on them – had taken a heavy toll on one of many sport’s hottest personalities.
Justifiably solid adrift by McLaren, Ricciardo was not treading water for lengthy. Nearly instantly, he was scooped up by Purple Bull – the identical staff he had left behind for greener pastures – and embraced by his first F1 household as soon as once more, slotting neatly again into the fold as third driver.
Whether or not it’s rediscovering his sense of belonging, or the gorgeous sunshine of the Cote d’Azure, Ricciardo appears absolutely again to his radiant self when RaceFans caught up with the eight-times grand prix winner on the Purple Bull ‘floaterhome’. However how does he really feel being again within the paddock with none of the stresses that comes with racing?
“Much less bizarre than I assumed!,” he laughs. “For positive there was a bit little bit of… how do I say it… apprehension? Am I simply going to really feel like the child that’s returning to his college promenade a yr later or one thing – you understand what I imply? It’s like, ‘okay dude, you’ve been right here earlier than’.” “I used to be truthfully simply not my glad self”
“I feel what’s actually made it really feel higher is coming again right here. And other people will say, ‘oh, he has to say that as a result of he’s again with Purple Bull’, however really that has felt a lot hotter than even I assumed it will have been. So I feel that’s given me a lot extra consolation being again right here on this atmosphere.”
Ricciardo ended a 12-year stint as a race driver in Formulation 1 with the worst season-long efficiency of his profession in 2022. One wonderful Sunday in Monza apart, Ricciardo’s two seasons at McLaren had been outlined by his absolute absence of tempo relative to staff mate Lando Norris with no actual clarification as to how the eight-times grand prix winner had seemingly misplaced his contact.
As a racing driver, there may be little extra soul destroying as dropping your velocity and your confidence for no discernible cause, irrespective of what number of hours are spent scouring telemetry and knowledge to find out why. Ricciardo candidly confirms that the challenges of his time at McLaren finally took a bodily toll on him in addition to an emotional one.
“I don’t need to like go too far and be like, ‘yeah, I used to be depressed’ or no matter,” he says, “however I definitely wasn’t at all times consuming as a lot.
“I feel I simply wasn’t feeling proper. I used to be truthfully simply not like my glad self, not my regular self. I feel as effectively a lot was happening final yr, I may really feel like I had this type of nervous power inside me. I didn’t have an urge for food as a lot. I used to be only a bit scattered. So yeah, there was definitely like a few of that. So I used to be a bit skinny.”
In a sport the place drivers are sometimes at pains to present little away, keep away from saying something controversial or self-aggrandising, Ricciardo’s authenticity stays as refreshing as ever. As a lot as he’s clearly having fun with not having to take care of the day-to-day pressures of being one of many 20 drivers on the Formulation 1 grid, he additionally admits he already feels desperate to get again into that unique membership.
“It’s put me in a very good place the place, thus far, I’m getting precisely what I needed out of this yr,” he says. “I’m getting sufficient of a break the place I really feel definitely refreshed and glad once more. However it’s sort of additionally reminded of me how cool this atmosphere was and what it’s prefer to be in a spot that I really feel I can hopefully get again to a podium.”
Had he actually needed to, Ricciardo may have been again on the grid this season. There have been groups in the direction of the rear of the sphere who would have fortunately gambled on the query marks over his tempo for his expertise and marketability. However the 33-year-old says it ought to have been apparent to him that Purple Bull could be the one place the place would really feel as content material as he does.
“Earlier than all of it, I used to be perhaps stunned,” he explains. “However then after I acquired right here additionally noticed so many acquainted faces and the way heat they had been in the direction of me and the way glad they had been to have me again within the household – until they had been mendacity to my face – that made me not stunned.
“I used to be like, ‘what was I pondering?’ After all. This actually is the place that gave me every thing, so I used to be in a short time not stunned.”
However his third driver position includes many hours within the Purple Bull simulator. After Ricciardo spent his first working day again on the Milton Keynes manufacturing facility, staff principal Christian Horner raised eyebrows by suggesting he had exhibited some surprising “habits” in his simulator driving – a attainable legacy from his time at McLaren.
“Clearly I can’t discuss intimately on sims, as a result of it’s a little bit of a delicate subject,” he explains, “however each staff’s sim is a bit bit totally different. So there’s adjusting to the precise automobile – which clearly each staff has a distinct automobile – but in addition the sim is totally different throughout groups, so there’s additionally a little bit of adjusting to the sim.
“The primary day at Purple Bull after I acquired again in, I used to be attempting to clearly modify to that automobile but in addition the sim. It undoubtedly took me extra laps than I needed at first and I feel that’s it was in all probability wanting like, ‘oh, he’s driving totally different’ or ‘he’s acquired bizarre habits’ or no matter.”
However via his time within the simulator – and the assistance of an previous pal – Ricciardo says he’s already beginning to rebuild a number of the confidence he misplaced behind the wheel.
“I feel that it was after I was there that first day that I realised I’d misplaced some confidence in myself,” he admits.
“I do know final yr my outcomes weren’t good, so after all I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m in all probability not as assured as I may very well be’. However you’re so in it that you just don’t actually realise really how you’re or the way you’re viewing your self. Once I acquired to their sim, I felt a bit nervous. So it made me realise that it had taken successful on my confidence.
“However then, on the flip aspect, the second half of the day then went very well. Now I really feel prefer it’s been like I by no means left. And that’s very nice. I’ve acquired Simon [Rennie] who was my engineer – he runs the sim. So we’re at a very good place now.
“However for positive, the primary couple of hours, I used to be nonetheless like ‘oh fuck… have I misplaced it?’. However we recovered. I’m really actually having fun with it. To some extent the place Simon’s like ‘alright mate, you possibly can cease now’ and I’m like, ‘yet one more lap!’.”
Naturally, getting again right into a rhythm in a digital F1 automobile has acquired Ricciardo itching to get again into an actual one. He’ll get a possibility in July with a Pirelli tyre check, however a return to racing is what he really needs. Nevertheless, he’s cautious about getting too forward of himself and never making any rash selections simply to get himself again on the grid.
“Clearly, I do know what the previous few years felt like, and I suppose I simply need to watch out to not leap again into that and simply suppose {that a} yr off goes to remedy every thing,” he stresses. “I feel it’s definitely going to remedy a whole lot of me, however that’s why I don’t need to simply get too excited and suppose ‘sure, let’s do it’, as a result of I miss the limelight and I miss being on Drive to Survive.
“I’m very open-minded and I recognize that, nearly as good as I really feel proper now, I’m not going to have each choice obtainable – I won’t even have an choice obtainable. Clearly, I hope I do, however I don’t need to be too narrow-minded, as a result of perhaps these choices aren’t there.
“However in saying that, as I need to be again, I don’t need to be again in any respect prices. I don’t need to simply be on the grid to be on the grid. I don’t need to be with a staff that I don’t really feel like I can get the automobile into a very good place. I undoubtedly need to be in a spot the place I really feel I can thrive, but in addition if I can’t get straight to the highest, I need to attempt to be in a spot that would get me again to the highest.”
However whereas he’s clearly having fun with himself again at Purple Bull and remains to be the identical Daniel Ricciardo as he at all times has been, the one factor that’s unimaginable to disregard speaking to him is simply how decided and satisfied he’s that he nonetheless has unfinished enterprise in Formulation 1.
“By the tip of final yr, I used to be undecided if I might need to come again,” he explains. “I used to be very open-minded to, ‘okay, perhaps I spend Christmas at dwelling and I’m like yeah, I’m pleased with this life now, I’m going to go and pursue one thing else’. However I knew in all probability already in March that I don’t really feel completed, I don’t really feel retired.
“I feel as effectively there’s part of me – and this would possibly sound like ego, however it’s definitely not – I don’t need my e-book to shut that manner. I don’t actually care an excessive amount of about legacy, however I really feel prefer it’s not the way in which that I ought to exit and I really feel like I can nonetheless give extra. So if I get the proper alternative, after all I might love to try this.”
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