4 years after ditching the Red Bull racing suit, all roads lead Daniel Ricciardo back to drawing inspiration from a driver at his former team. The Aussie who is on the brink of exiting the pinnacle of motorsport uses Sergio Perez as an example to advocate his case for a comeback in F1.

Following the drama of the silly season, it looks like McLaren is adamant about replacing the 33-year-old, one year before his contract runs out. Henceforth, speaking to Motorsport.com, Ricciardo, who has faced 2 poor seasons, commented on how quickly fates can turn around in this high-adrenaline sport.

“I was saying it when I was 27, ‘ah, I’m getting older!’ – in a way, yes, I’m getting older, but I think also I know a bit more about the sport now, and I know that things do take time,” Ricciardo said.

“We all believe we can win. So it’s like, well I want to win tomorrow, but it’s not always like that. Even now, talking about 2024 or ’25, in a way it’s hard to think that far ahead. But it’ll come around quickly.”

“You also take like little things from if it’s a Perez, when his career looked over, and now he’s potentially fighting for a world championship. The sport can change so quickly,” the McLaren driver concluded.

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Notably, the shortcomings of the MCL36 have been the thorn in the side of the Honey Badger. Moreover, on the other side of the garage, Lando Norris is turning heads with a strong stint of results, which makes life even more difficult for the struggling F1 pilot.

Is Daniel Ricciardo in a similar position to Sergio Perez?

2020 was undoubtedly an agonizing year because of the pandemic. However, for the Mexican racing driver on the grid, a threat as big as the Covid-19 was his future in the sport. Perez raced for Racing Point (now Aston Martin), who signed the multi-time F1 champion, Sebastian Vettel to replace him in 2021. Thus, leaving him with no seat available for the following year.

At the 11th hour, Red Bull signed the 32-year-old to replace Alex Albon, who arguably couldn’t match the team’s expectations. Even though Perez couldn’t match the pace of the Red Bull protégé, Max Verstappen in his first season with the team, he grabbed consistent results for him to earn a contract renewal.

The present season is where he has joined in the race for the driver’s world title. The Mexican is in impressive form and is P3 in the standings with a deficit of only 5 points to the Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc in P2.

WATCH THIS STORY: How a Euphoric Sergio Perez Hilariously Leaked His Red Bull Contract Announcement at Monaco

Along the same lines, Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic that his future holds many more ‘Shoeys’ and race wins. The Perth-born racing driver refuses to accept defeat and will be a man on a mission in the second half of the championship.

Do you think Ricciardo can perform better on another team? Perhaps Alpine?