Last season, Ricciardo’s stock hit rock bottom. The 34-year-ol𓂃d 𒆙Australian was released from his McLaren contract early following a bruising two-year spell. 

Aside from claiming a memorable win at the🌊 2021 Italian Grand Prix - McLaren’s first victory in a decade - Ricciardo’s stint at 💯Woking was largely one of frustration and underwhelming performances. 

Ricciardo was in need of a reset and he found it in the form of a third driver role as back-up for 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez at Red Bull for 2023. 

After six mont👍hs being fully integrated in💝to the world championship-winning squad, Ricciardo, who admitted that “the last couple of years was a little bit humbling”, is refreshed and has rediscovered his love for F1. 

“I thought it would feel a bit more like, probably not to this extent, but probably a bit like a spare prick at a wedding,” Ricciardo told mahbx.com in an exclusive interview at the Britis🍌h Grand Prix.

“A lot of people put it in my head that🦄 it would be scari🅷er than it actually is. They were like ‘you can’t afford to take a year off’ and it’s ‘career suicide’. Not at all. 

"I think it’s given me a chance to s🐽low down and find love again. I’m able to observe so much more now and as a race car driverജ you are just in it. 

“I see things a little bit from a different perspective an꧂d that’s really cool. I know [when] I go back racing, there’s just some things I’d do differently or some things that I’ll remain aware of now.”

He continued: “This year has been oꦉne of the best years for me. I’ve actually enjoyed it a lot, personally. 

“I’ve done some things I’ve never had the time to do as a 🐼race car driver. I was at risk of becoming tired of the sport if I stayed in it if I was in a situation that maybe wasn’t perfect for me. 

“People see it. My friends and my family say ‘you look hap🌜py again, you look vibrant, you look like you’. And I feel like me.”

Upon his initial return to the team with which he took seven of his eight grand prix wins between 2014-2018, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he “didn’t recognise” the driving🗹 habits Ricciardo had picked up during his struggles at McLaren. 

A fortnight ago in Austria, Horner declared that Ricciardo had “rediscovered his moj💯o” and had a “spring in his step”. 

A seamless reunion wit♈h his former Red Bull race engineer Simon Rennie has been key to helping Ricciardo get🐷 back up to speed in the simulator. Now, Ricciardo feels “completely back to where I was” and “in a really good way”. 

"I𒅌t’s a car [RB19] that I feel I can control, it’s a car I feel talks to me in a way I want to be talked to,” he explained. “I’m working with Simon, my e🦋ngineer from Red Bull. All my sim work is with him. 

"Honestly it feels like the last four years [at McLaren and Renault], they happened - I’m not trying to eliminate the four years - I’m trying to say it’s like we never stopped working together. It’s been so seamless, the transition going back to th🌺e team. 

“It all felt really, really good. The𝔉y’ve helped give me that support and comfort. Getting me to work with Simon made me feel ‘this is familiar’, it’s an engineer who I adored and had such a good relationship with. Everything has been set-up really wellꦍ.”

Asked if he feels more support in the Red Bull family compared 🎃to his time at McLaren, Ricciardo said: “At McLaren, it wasn’t through lack of effort. We were all trying to figure it out. Obviously we couldn’t in the end get to it. But it wasn’t like they weren’t tr🥀ying to help. 

“But I think no team has understood me like Red Bull has. Maybe that’s because they brought me up from juniors and they know ꦐme better than any team and have worked with me for🐟 so long. They were there for my rise, so to speak. 

“They do know me and I think they therefore are able to understand ꦦwhen I’m in my good place and what I need, the people around me and stuff. They get it.”

On Tuesday, Ricciardo g🌜ot the chance to put the RB19 through its paces for real in a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone, marking his first outing in a Red Bull F1 car in five years. 

Ricciardo’s performance back in the cockpit of an F1 car impressed Red Bull, with his best lap time of the grid at last weekend’s Briti🐈sh Grand Prix. 

The 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:official announcement of his surprising return to Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri, in place of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nyck de Vries - dropped on🌼ly 10 races into his rookie F1 season - followed on Tuesday afternoon. 

Just four days earlier, Ricciardo had revealed to mahbx.com that he would be 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:willing to drive for AlphaTauri providing♕ it created a path back to the sꦇenior team, which he previously admitted is his “fairytale” outcome. 

“The hunger’🧸s still there and I don’t feel like I’m done,” he said. 

“Maybe this year I was going to feel in my heart that I don’t miss it, I don’t really care ﷺabout it anymore, but I do. It’s still with a competitive urge.&n꧃bsp;

“It’s not just to be on the grid and be one of the 20 guys to say I’m an F1 driver. The 🌃only kind of way I would accept, let's call it a less competitive role, is if there's a vision of a more competitive role. 

“If I have to take one step back, so to speak, to go two ಞforward [that’s okay]. I don’t want to be too stubborn and ignore that. I also know that the top seats - very, very, very few are available. 

“Maybe I do have to climb the ladder again. Honestly, do I feel I needౠ to personally? I don’t. I feel if I was to jump in a top team now I would be able to kick off kind of where I left off. Maybe not 2022 but prior to that!”

There is no doubt in Ricciardo’s mind. He has unfinished business in F1 ♚and wants to exorcise his McLaren demons. 

And he💟 is now one step closer to making his dream Red Bull return a reality.