In Two Minds, Daniel Ricciardo Now Urges Red Bull to Make an Exception

We are all aware of how Daniel Ricciardo managed to join his “home” team Red Bull after McLaren severed connections with the honey badger due to a poor two-year partnership. After settling in well, the Australian driver is having second thoughts that could lead to one of two things: either the Milton Keynes side will have some restless nights or they will decide to make an exception for the Honey Badger.

Daniel Ricciardo has been competing in F1 for almost 12 years, having begun his career with HRT back in 2011. He has potentially become a veteran of the sport. The Honey Badger seemed to have changed teams quite frequently.

The Australian driver made the decision to depart Red Bull in 2018 after a great tenure with the Austrian outfit, where he earned 7 Grand Prix victories. Ricciardo now appears to be adamant about the decision to quit a major team like RBR in the first place.

When questioned about it by Grandprix.com, he said, “So, I feel like I needed to try something else, so when I look back at that time and how I felt in 2018, I still stand by, I still think I did the right move. Did it work out perfectly? No, it didn’t, but I still feel I needed to answer that question of what could be and it has been answered, I’m totally OK with it.”

Ricciardo, who first seemed comfortable in his reserve driver role, now appears to be torn between two positions as he urges for the team to run three cars in F1 races. He said, “I think Red Bull is going to have three cars on the grid next year, so I’ll be OK [laughs].”

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Running 3 cars on the F1 grid has not been the norm for a while now. So, Red Bull may have to find some other way to fit Ricciardo on the grid in its car. But the Aussie driver had virtually wooed every major Formula One team. So why did Ricciardo choose Red Bull above other strong contenders?

Daniel Ricciardo outlines his decision to re-join Red Bull over Mercedes

The scenes would have been so wonderful had Ricciardo joined the Silver Arrows, but all had been done, and the Honey badger has joined Red Bull as a reserve driver. However, Ricciardo revealed on the Fast Lane podcast that he had discussions with other teams, including Mercedes, but he considered that returning to Red Bull made a lot more sense for him.

He said, “So there were talks with Mercedes as well, and I was also, let’s say, appreciative of their engagement as well because there was certainly an appetite for that. Let’s say it kind of stalled a little bit, and then the Red Bull stuff started to make more and more sense and had more and more legs, and then it naturally progressed as it did.”

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The sneaky method by which Daniel Ricciardo joined the team may have already put some pressure on Sergio Perez, and now that he is appealing for a third vehicle, the entire Red Bull squad is going to have some anxious moments. However, do you believe the Milton Keynes team will make an exception for the Honey Badger?