The fan-favorite Honey Badger has made his way back home to Red Bull after completing his last season as an F1 driver for McLaren. For the longest time, Daniel Ricciardo was reported to have been in conversation with Mercedes. However, the news about the 33-year-old coming back home for his new start in F1 took the F1 community by surprise.

The Australian has always praised the Austrian team. He bagged seven wins with Red Bull before moving on to Renault, and then, eventually, to McLaren. With an unfortunate downward spiral in his performances on the tracks, Ricciardo decided to take a step back from racing. He, however, wasn’t done with F1 just yet and hopes to be back on the track, eventually.

As the Honey Badger takes his new steps as a reserve driver, he is excited to be back with the team it all started with. Although Ricciardo has got his smile back since the recent Red Bull announcement, in an interview in July, he shared some harsh tid-bits about his relationship with the Austrian team advisor, Helmut Marko.

Daniel said, “Helmut gave me a lot of sh*t over the years, so didn’t need to sit down…after I left, there was no need for that anymore!”

“My admiration, or respect, for the man has remained unchanged. He’s a good guy. So no ‘I told you so’. That’s part of the sport. And we’ll move on,” he said in conclusion.

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Looking at a much more recent interview, Daniel Ricciardo has talked about his fears and the thought behind his new steps toward Red Bull.

Daniel Ricciardo expressed he was exhausted at the track in the past few years

In recent times, the Australian wasn’t bringing his A-game to the field often, and many were left disappointed in the once-promising racer. Daniel Ricciardo got extremely transparent in a recent interview as he shares his fears and plans going forward from here.

Talking to Speedcafe, He said, “To make things crystal clear, I’m still not on the grid next year, But look, it’s certainly a way to still stay involved and to give me the time necessary to take a back step. And that’s been no secret to myself.”

Further expressing himself, he said, “Obviously a race drive is the best thing if I want to stay, you know, that’s the surest thing. It just became more and more clear that I couldn’t be doing 24 races next year.”

“I think it would have just probably worn me out more than anything and it’s at a point where I just felt a little exhausted, where I just needed to slow my year down,” he said, in conclusion.

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Many F1 fans still wish to see the Australian race the tracks, however, do you think the Honey Badger has it in himself to return to the game in the role of an F1 racer again?