Daniel Ricciardo is arguably one of the most celebrated drivers on the F1 grid. Although the Honey Badger has parted ways with Mclaren after a disappointing stint of two years, he will still be visible in the F1 paddock. Ricciardo will join the Milton Keynes side once again.

Even though he is back where it all started, Ricciardo has come a long way. And this has been possible because of the person who gave the Honey Badger an opportunity to race in Formula 1.

Daniel Ricciardo has been present in the F1 for almost 12 years now. He came into the world of Formula 1 through Red Bull’s junior programme. He joined the team in 2014, and the Austrian outfits gave the jolly Australian driver 7 Grand Prix wins. Now, Ricciardo has rejoined the Red Bull camp as a reserve driver.

Coming back to his roots, Daniel Ricciardo has recently paid tribute to Red Bull’s co-founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, after his sad demise.

The Austrian billionaire died last month. According to Ricciardo, Mateschitz had a major impact on his life on the level same as his parents. Remembering the 78-year-old, who gave some life-changing opportunity to Ricciardo, the Honey Badger said, “I think there was so much about Dietrich, in terms of the way he carried himself.”

He added, “He was always happy to be out of out of the limelight. [He] gave so many of us an opportunity to really achieve our dreams. Honestly, there’s two groups of people in my life that put me in this position, it’s my parents and it’s Dietrich and Red Bull.”

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Danny Ric left Red Bull in 2018. It was said that he left the Milton Keynes side because he didn’t want to be treated as a second driver to Max Verstappen. But now, as the jolly Australian is rejoining the team, his teammate Max Verstappen has something to say about the Perth-based driver.

Max Verstappen believes Daniel Ricciardo shouldn’t have left Red Bull

Although Daniel Ricciardo has driven for five teams till now, it is Red Bull who changed his destiny. Ricciardo was with the Milton Keynes side from 2014 to 2018. During the course, he won the 7 Grand Prix. And towards the end, he had Max Verstappen as his teammate.

With the Australian returning to Red Bull, Verstappen believes that the 8 time Grand Prix winner shouldn’t have left the Austrian outfit in the first place. The Dutchman, in an interview with Formule1.nl. said, “It would have been better for Daniel if he had stayed longer at Red Bull at the time.” 

Verstappen added further, “I did talk to him about it. It’s also about feeling comfortable somewhere. That was no longer the case at one point. Then you have to look at alternatives and make the trade-off between sporting success and feeling good somewhere.”

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Daniel Ricciardo has joined Red Bull as a third driver in order to get some time off from the hectic schedules of racing and also to not cut all ties with F1. Perhaps time can tell if the 33-year-old made the right move or not.