Daniel Ricciardo started the final lap of last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title showdown right on the tail of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. What followed was one of the most dramatic moments in Formula One history, but Ricciardo, long regarded as one of F1’s most talented drivers, wasn’t part of it. He was a lap down, a spectator, later explaining how he had mixed emotions watching what unfolded on the final lap.
It would have been difficult to imagine Ricciardo not being the third part of that kind of championship scenario just a few years ago. His move away from Red Bull in 2019 is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of modern F1. That move was a key part of the first season of F1’s wildly successful Netflix series Drive to Survive and Ricciardo is one of that show’s bonafide superstars.
But it’s hard to escape the feeling it all might have been so different for him had he stayed as Verstappen’s teammate but Ricciardo makes a point of not dwelling on the past.
“It’s just perspective, and that changes everything,” Ricciardo told ESPN ahead of Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix”. “I think through doing it for so many years now, and just a bit of wisdom, maturity, and perspective, I don’t beat myself up about it anymore.
“I know when I was 27 or 28 I would say in interviews, like, I’m running out of time, I’m not world champion yet. I was a bit bitter about it then. But I’ve kind of let that element go.
“In terms of just carrying that, I don’t. I never wanted to carry an anger or bitterness, like ‘oh man, I should have, could have, would have’. It is what it is.. You just waste time and energy sulking about that stuff.”
Ricciardo often delivers performances which remind F1 how good he is. His fairytale win for McLaren at last year’s Italian Grand Prix had all the hallmarks of Ricciardo’s Red Bull days, as he seemed to find another level as soon as a sniff of victory presented itself. It was his first win since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.
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It’s hard to escape…
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