Cheeky Aussie back on track after break
The biggest grin in Formula One is back on the racing grid — again.
Daniel Ricciardo now wants to deliver results worthy of his return for AlphaTauri this season and that coveted seat in 2024. Already given one career lifeline this season, Ricciardo, 34, missed the last five races with a broken left hand. But he returns this week to the US Grand Prix, where the Australian has a history of having some cheeky fun.
“Hi guys! Long time no see,” Ricciardo said to the group of his fellow drivers when he walked into yesterday’s news conference.
“I’m very happy to be back. The hand feels good,” Ricciardo said, adding that the bone break that required surgery was worse than initially expected.
“[Recovery] was tougher than I thought. But I’m probably a bit of a wuss as well,” he said.
Ricciardo has often turned the Circuit of the Americas outside Austin into a bit of a personal playground. He has been known to enter the paddock riding a horse, to mimic a Western accent in interviews, and wear a University of Texas Longhorns basketball jersey in the pre-race driver parade.
Eventually there will have to be a serious side to the racing, which has not been so good for Ricciardo in recent years. At times it has been painful, emotionally and physically.
“First and foremost, I see myself as a race car driver, not an entertainer,” he said. “I want to go racing . . . make sure I am seen as a race car driver who is still hungry and determined and not just here for a good time.”
Ricciardo’s best racing years were with Red Bull, where he claimed seven of his eight career victories and twice finished on the podium in Austin in 2014 and 2016. Then came a winless two-year stint with Renault before another move to McLaren.
The drive with McLaren produced the team’s first win in a decade. But it was otherwise disappointing as he was routinely outraced by teammate Lando Norris.
The smile was fading, and then gone when Ricciardo and McLaren split with a buyout of the final year of his contract.
Red Bull brought Ricciardo back as a reserve driver for 2023. That got him back in the paddock, but it also simultaneously elevated his frustration that he was watching others race. Then came the break that could yet revive his career.
AlphaTauri cut loose rookie Nyck De Vries after 10 races and gave the seat to Ricciardo. He finished 13th in
Hungary and 16th in Belgium, then broke his hand at the Dutch Grand Prix.
He was again stuck watching while New Zealand’s Liam Lawson drove in his place five races and was good enough to earn a reserve slot with AlphaTauri for next season.
“He’s young. It’s not like he’s at the end of his career,” Ricciardo said of Lawson. “Keep assisting, keep your head down. If he keeps on that course, his time will come.”
Ricciardo got to climb back into his car yesterday and quickly showed his toothy grin. He said he is fit and ready for the bumpy ride around the Austin racetrack.
“It does beat you up,” Ricciardo said. “But I think I like that.”
I’m very happy to be back. The hand feels good. [Recovery] was tougher than I thought. Daniel Ricciardo