(Jenifer Lorenzini – Pool/Getty Images)īy 2018, Ricciardo stood among the elite racers in F1, his status no clearer than when winning F1’s most famous race, the Monaco Grand Prix, with a failing engine.
Ricciardo drove at a high level during his two-year stint with Renault, but scored just two podiums. Most importantly, the time away is helping him figure out whether he really wants to return to F1 full-time at all.Īs The Athletic saw and heard first-hand while spending time with Ricciardo during his first race back in the F1 paddock in Australia earlier this month, as much as he is enjoying the benefits of his new-found freedom, he remains hungry to get back to his race-winning peak. The reduced stakes of the reserve driver role at Red Bull are giving Ricciardo the chance to reset and rebuild his knocked confidence. Stepping away for a year or two has worked for drivers before: Alain Prost came back from a sabbatical to win his fourth world championship, in 1993 Fernando Alonso took two years out and is now an F1 front-runner again. He returned to his former team, Red Bull, as a reserve driver. After splitting with McLaren at the end of last season with a year remaining on his contract, a mutual decision after a season of poor results and struggle for performance, he opted to take a year out of racing in F1. Ricciardo, with 232 races under his belt, was a spectator by choice.
I’m trying to build myself back up.” (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
“I’ve got no hidden agenda,” Ricciardo says of his role as a reserve driver.
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