Last season, Ricciardo’s stock hit rock bottom. The 34-year-old Australian was released from his McLaren contract early following a bruising two-yeaꦰr 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♔ frustration꧙ 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 months being fully integrated into 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.&nbs꧃p;

“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 ltxcn.top in𒉰 an exclusive interview at the British Grand Prix.

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

"I t▨hink it’s given me a chance to slow down and find love again. I’m able to observe so much more now and as a race ca♉r driver you are just in it. 

“I see things a little bit fro♊m a different perspective and 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: “T✤his year has been one of the best years for me. I’ve actually enjoyed it ﷺa 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 s♔ee it. My friends and my family say ‘you look hapꦿpy 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” th🙈e driving habits Ricciardo had picked up during his struggles at McLaren.&nb🐻sp;

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

A seamless reunion with 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”. 

"It’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 talk𒉰ed to,” he explained. “I’m working with Simon, my engineer from Red Bull. All my si✱m 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 the team. 

“It all felt really, really💞 good. Thღey’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 well.”

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 trying toꩲ 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 me better than any team and have worked🎐 with me for so long. They were there for my rise, soꦗ to speak. 

“They do know me and I thi❀nk they therefore are able to understand when I’m in my good place and what I need, the people around m🌠e and stuff. They get it.”

On Tuesday, Ricciardo got 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 per﷽formance back in the cockpit of an F1 car impressed Red Bull, with his best lap time of the grid at last weekend’s British Grand Pri﷽x. 

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 only 10 races into his roo꧂kie F1 season - followed on Tuesday afternoo♐n. 

Just four days earlier, Ricciardo had revealed to ltxcn.top 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 senior team, which he previously admitted is his “fairytale” out🌱come. 

“The hunger’s still th🥃ere and I don’t feel like I’m done,” he said.♍ 

“Maybe this year I was g☂oing to feel in my heart that I don’t miss it, I don’t really care about it anymore, but I do. It’s still with a competit💜ive urge. 

🌄“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 forward [that’s okay]. I don’t want to be too stubbor💮n and ignore that. I also know that the top seats - very, very, very few are available. 

“Maybe Iꦚ do have to climb the ladder again. Honestly,🤡 do I feel I need 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 unfinis𒊎hed business in F1 and waꦰnts to exorcise his McLaren demons. 

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