Daniel Ricciardo said the fact persistent rumours he could still rejoin the senior Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen exist is proof “crazy things can happen”.
Ricciardo will continue the second coming of his F1 career at AlphaTauri – which will be rebranded, likely as ‘Racing Bulls’ – next season alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
But the Aussie pointed out he was the one at the centre of speculation throughout the 2022 season, and it was “crazy” to think he was now being considered for a top seat.
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“I definitely don’t see it as pressure,” Ricciardo said in Abu Dhabi.
“I think 12 months ago, a lot of the … call it rumour lists, for lack of a better word, were normally negatively directed at me.
“Whether it’s a rumour or not, ‘oh, could you be back in a Red Bull one day’, 12 or 18 months ago, I never would have thought that would be a conversation.
“Even if it is just a rumour, I just didn’t think a rumour like that would exist. That just makes me smile.
“It gives me a lot of encouragement that just through the highs and the lows, the ups and downs, if you stay on the straight and narrow, crazy things can happen.”
Ricciardo scored the first points of his F1 comeback when he recorded the AlphaTauri team’s best result of the year with a seventh place finish in Mexico.
The West Australian left the Red Bull stable for a factory drive with Renault – now Alpine – for the 2019 season.
After breaking his hand in a crash during just the third race of his comeback, Ricciardo would miss the next six races, but it was during this time the AlphaTauri squad confirmed he would stay on in 2024, despite his replacement Liam Lawson scoring points.
A graduate of the Red Bull junior academy, Ricciardo said a return to the squad would be a “fairytale” way to end his career.
“That’s also just part of this kind of comeback and (my attitude to) this return is, I’m just going to give it all I’ve got and if something crazy happens, that’s really cool,” he said.
“I think I’ll take it in my stride and whatever, but I’m also not getting ahead of myself with that.
“I’ve said that would be a fairytale kind of way to finish my career, as a Red Bull driver, but I still use the word ‘fairytale’ because I know that it’s certainly not even close to being guaranteed or anything.
“I just want to kick some butt here. Very happy I’ve got a seat next year, I’m very happy that they signed me when I was on the sideline crying about my hand.
“Ultimately just happy to be back in the family and even if it’s not the big team, I’m just in a very happy place being here.”
He will start the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from 15th on the grid.
The lights go out at midnight.