Apart From Mercedes & Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo Seduced Yet Another Championship Winning Team for Changing F1 Fortunes

It became public knowledge that Daniel Ricciardo was seatless after McLaren opted to part ways with him as a result of his two-year performance slump. The seatless Honey Badger wooed many significant teams. Red Bull and Mercedes were the teams who openly got in touch with him. But in the Formula 1.com interview, Ricciardo revealed he was contacted by another big team who’s waiting for 14 years to win a title.

Daniel Ricciardo has come full circle after leaving Red Bull in 2018 and joining them back this past year. After leaving the Milton Keynes side, the Australian first headed to Renault (now Alpine) and then switched to McLaren. Ricciardo won just a single race for the British racing team in 2021 at Monza. Although he scored 115 points in his first season with the team, the Honey Badger’s performance in his second season was a disaster. He only managed to score 37 points, causing the team to cut its connections with him.

Many teams approached him after his contract expired a year early for a variety of positions. Ricciardo, in the newest episode of Beyond the Grid podcast, revealed, “There was a couple of times where [Ferrari] was linked. But, I think coming back to a seat next year as Guenther [Steiner, Haas Team Principal] said, he reached out and stuff.”

“The more… days that passed and, especially as I did the triple-header to get back into the second half of the season so three days on the bounce it became more and more clear that it wasn’t about what phone call I was receiving; it was about me acknowledging that I just ultimately don’t want to be competing next year.”

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Ricciardo’s luck had not been in his favor since leaving Red Bull. Nevertheless, it seems as though Daniel Ricciardo has no regrets about leaving the group in the first place back in 2018.

Daniel Ricciardo has no regrets about first leaving Red Bull

Before Max Verstappen joined the club, Danny Ric was the team’s standout player. The Dutchman seemed to get all the glory once he sat in the Red Bull. According to reports, this caused the Honey Badger discomfort, and he ultimately took the decision to leave the squad. He has since changed teams twice and is now back where he started, as a reserve driver. Despite the fact that Ricciardo won 7 Grand Prix races with Red Bull, the Australian driver is not sad about his choice to quit the Austrian Outfit back in 2018.

Ricciardo spoke with De Telegraaf and said, “I don’t regret leaving Red Bull. People can say that it didn’t work out after that, I get that. I didn’t win any titles either, but I did learn a lot, That made me better.” [translated via Google]

“It may sound profound to say I think everything happens for a reason, but I had to break away from my position at the time.” 

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The year came to a close with yet another excellent performance by Red Bull, and now we have entered 2023 with new expectations. Do you think the Australian will have the opportunity to take the wheel in any of the races this year?