Daniel Ricciardo has asserted that he is “in a happy place” after
returning to the Formula 1 grid with AlphaTauri this season.
Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren at the end of the 2022 campaign
amid a difficult two years with the Woking-based squad. The
Australian was consistently out-paced by Lando Norris as he
struggled to get up to speed within the team. Ricciardo returned to
Red Bull in a third driver role for this year, several years after
opting to leave the organisation for a different challenge.
However, he was ushered back to the grid midway through the year to
replace Nyck de Vries – but his time was shortlived as he injured
his hand during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend which sidelined him
for several weeks. After his return from injury, Ricciardo scored a
seventh-place result in Mexico and secured a spot with the team for
next season. Ricciardo has declared that he is in a better state of
mind now compared to his time at McLaren. “I think when I look back
on this year, it’s a year I never would have expected in so many
ways,” Ricciardo told media including RacingNews365.com . “I didn’t
expect to be racing at all this year, let alone kind of going
through everything else. So it’s something that I’m definitely
happy [about]. “The place I am and what I feel, let’s say inside my
heart ultimately, I’m really in a happy place, and I’m happy being
here racing again. “I’d say like, just fully hungry and motivated.
It’s probably the first off-season that I would not really want an
off-season. “I want to keep racing and keep a bit of the flow
going. But also the thought of having a little bit of a break and
getting myself prepared for next year, that excites me as well.
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