The early phase of Daniel Ricciardo’s career was a thrilling spectacle, characterized by his fast, audacious, and swashbuckling style that led to 8 Grand Prix victories and 32 podium finishes. The majority of these accomplishments were achieved with Red Bull. Subsequently, he joined McLaren F1, and although he often struggled to match his teammate Lando Norris, he managed to secure a rare and celebrated win for the much-decorated team.

However, Ricciardo’s sole McLaren victory did not reignite the brilliance of his earlier career, leading to the premature termination of his contract. His successor, Oscar Piastri, made an immediate impact, consistently matching and often surpassing his formidable teammate Lando Norris in qualifying, though Norris maintained an edge in race conditions.

Ricciardo eventually returned to the Red Bull family, rejoining Toro Rosso, now rebranded as RB. Contrary to expectations, he has not dominated teammate Yuki Tsunoda; instead, the reverse occurred. Despite this, Ricciardo remains unperturbed. With the second seat at Red Bull still unconfirmed, Ricciardo is confident in his readiness to rejoin his former team.

At 34, Ricciardo remains youthful by sporting standards and has a few more years left to give to the sport. Nonetheless, he is acutely aware that time is not on his side. Athletes face a finite career span and must ultimately decide when to retire: do they depart at the cusp of their decline, or do they wait until they are forced out due to contract termination or non-renewal?

Meanwhile, a new generation of drivers is poised to take their place on the relentless merry-go-round of Formula One. The sport is a fierce arena, with hungry competitors always on the hunt, showing no mercy. Yet, Ricciardo remains unfazed; his hunger and determination are undiminished, as he expressed in a recent media interview.

“I’m back here because I still have that hunger – I’m not back here because I made some bad investments and I need to make money or anything.”

“Honestly, I’m back here because I still believe I can do it. I’m still hungry. Even after Miami, you know, I had such a good Sprint. And then the race was not, mainly due to qualifying.”

“That high of the good result filled me with so much joy again but then not backing it up on the Sunday kind of just ate me away.”

“It’s moments like that on Saturday when I know I can still do it, and I’m still hungry to do it. That’s what I told Red Bull when I signed this deal last year with them. I said this isn’t about me trying to find this big contract or anything silly – it’s about me just trying to prove to myself that I can still do it.”””

“That’s the icing on the cake! As a competitor, we’ve all got that little bit of an edge about us where it is nice to shut some people up.”