Daniel Ricciardo is floating within the System 1 wilderness after the 2022 season got here to an finish.
The West Australian received’t be lining up on the grid in 2023 after refusing to hitch a workforce additional down the grid.
As an alternative the person referred to as the “honey badger” has returned to his outdated stomping floor at Purple Bull because the workforce’s third driver.
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Ricciardo’s tenure at McLaren was minimize quick when the workforce signed Aussie teenager Oscar Piastri to pair him with Lando Norris.
The transfer introduced Ricciardo’s time on the Woking-based to an abrupt finish, ending up a yr sooner than his contract initially stipulated.
Information of his return to Purple Bull as a reserve was confirmed by workforce chief Helmut Marko through the season finale race in Abu Dhabi.
The choice from the eight-time Grand Prix winner to successfully take a yr off from the game earlier than hoping to return to the grid in 2024 has left many legends of the game baffled.
Ricciardo himself confirmed the transfer to step again from the fixed grind of the System 1 world was one he wanted to keep away from dropping his love of the game.
“Because the second half of the season went on, I simply wanted to step away for a bit, rebuild myself, reset a bit, and in addition simply discover the extreme love for it,” he informed Speedcafe.
“As a result of, at this degree, if you happen to don’t have that, then I’m not doing justice for myself or anybody round me.
“I’m not saying I’ve misplaced it, however I’m in worry of dropping it.”
Ricciardo mentioned he discovered the method of getting to repeatedly choose himself up and mud himself off from tough races was additionally carrying him right down to the purpose the place he wanted a clear break from the game.
“It simply grew to become increasingly clear that I couldn’t be doing 24 races subsequent yr — it simply wasn’t going to, I feel, be the proper factor for me,” he added.
“I feel it could have simply most likely worn me out greater than something and it’s at some extent the place I simply felt slightly exhausted, the place I simply wanted to sluggish my yr down.
“And at this degree of sport that’s harmful — you may’t be working at 99 per cent.
“So I actually felt I used to be in worry of not being at my finest if I did one other yr.”
Regardless of his struggles over the previous two seasons with McLaren, Ricciardo’s transfer to Purple Bull has former world champion Damon Hill believing he might discover himself alongside Max Verstappen on the grid very quickly.
Purple Bull endured a tumultuous end to the 2022 season after Verstappen refused to maneuver apart for teammate Sergio Perez.
Hill believes it might solely a matter of time earlier than Ricciardo known as as much as exchange Perez.
“It could possibly be fairly an fascinating one if you consider the issues they’ve apparently had between Max and Sergio,” Hill informed Sky Sports activities F1.
“Let’s say the toys exit of the pram and there may be some form of fall on the market, Daniel Ricciardo could possibly be in prime place.
“It’s his dwelling, and he does owe loads to Purple Bull so he can be very eager to be again in that fold.
“What’s it concerning the prodigal son who returns? He could possibly be in an excellent place coming again and having discovered loads somewhere else.
“It may be you can enhance having been some other place then returning to the place you began.”
Perez is contracted with Purple Bull till the top of the 2024 season, however as we’ve seen with Ricciardo if the workforce desires to maneuver on, they’ll discover a means.
The struggles for Ricciardo at McLaren left pundits throughout the paddock baffled with no one ready to determine simply how the Aussie had fallen away so sharply.
2016 System 1 drivers champion Nico Rosberg was at a loss making an attempt to determine how Ricciardo went from beating Sebastian Vettel once they had been Purple Bull teammates, to being off the grid in a brief span of time.
“I feel Daniel didn’t actually have a lot of a alternative [to take the reserve role],” Rosberg mentioned on Sky Sports activities’ ‘Any Pushed Monday‘.
“It’s a tough one with Daniel. Simply two years in the past he was the following World Champion, the following large factor, large hype, and now he’s exiting the game like that. It’s so robust.
“Obscure additionally why he was struggling to get that efficiency out of the automobile, the efficiency that we’re used to seeing from him.
“He’s the one who beat Sebastian Vettel in the identical automobile, let’s keep in mind that, over the entire season honest and sq. again at Purple Bull.
“He’s an superior driver so unusual to know why the final two years with two fully completely different automobiles he wasn’t capable of ship, I don’t perceive it.
“And naturally, he’ll have an excellent reset now, a yr out, and who is aware of, possibly he’ll have one other probability to get again in.”
