Daniel Ricciardo has returned to the Formula 1 paddock at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in his new role as Red Bull’s third driver.
After losing his McLaren seat for 2023, Ricciardo signed to rejoin Red Bull last November. So far the team has only shown him acting in a promotional capacity, including recently driving a Red Bull RB7 around Australia.
But when he is trackside he will serve the same function as Liam Lawson and Dennis Hauger, the two Red Bull juniors sharing the reserve driver role and doing simulator work at the team’s F1 base in Milton Keynes, in that he will be ready to race should Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez be unable to.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Ricciardo will attend several races this year as reserve, and “probably do a bit of tyre testing” in the current RB19 car as well as simulator work. But his main duties, due to Ricciardo now being based in the USA, will be promotional work for Red Bull and its partners – such as his recent RB7 road trip.
Last month Ricciardo remarked he’s “definitely keen to have a crack” at the Pirelli tyre tests “just to stay race fit”, but admitted he was not “foaming at the mouth yet” to return to the cockpit of an F1 car and if he was to race something else then he would only want to do it for fun.
In fact, a lot of the onus Ricciardo put on his desires for 2023 were not connected to making a race return in 2024, but using the mental space that not racing in F1 was going to afford him.
He said that over the winter he had been “really trying to savour” being able to give his full attention to activities, such as spending time with family and friends, without needing to factor in training schedules and off-season work his former teams would be giving him.
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“I’m trying not to put too much stress on it [evaluating if I want to return],” Ricciardo told media including RaceFans at Red Bull’s 2023 season launch. “I really just want to let it happen naturally.”
He added: “I’m really happy to be taking the year I’m taking. At least currently where I sit, it does really feel right.”
In the weeks leading up to the F1 season, Ricciardo structured his time to wind down the ‘holiday feel’ and prepare himself for a return to work. While he aims to enjoy his new job, after…
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