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The Australian replaced the struggling Nyck de Vries at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year and delivered the team’s best result of the season.
But the on-track performance was only part of his benefit, with the team’s technical boss, Jody Egginton, highlighting the impact he’s had on the engineering side of the organisation.
Ricciardo returned to Faenza with well over 200 grands prix under his belt making him by a considerable margin the most experienced driver the organisation – under any guise – has ever employed.
That has offered RB a useful skillset it has not previously had.
“He’s brought a lot of experience to that team,” Aston Martin’s former race strategist Bernie Collins told Speedcafe as part of the KTM Summer Grill earlier this year.
“Teams towards the back of the grid that are trying to develop a car, trying to make the car better and improve it, really need the experience.
“They need a driver that’s fit to drive around some of the issues that the car has, that are fit to lead the development direction, that are fit to push a younger driver on.
“And also bring that aura of calmness because things won’t always go right, so you do need to be willing to react to that.”
Collins’ comments echo those of Johnathan Eddolls, head of trackside engineering, who has spoken of Ricciardo’s ability to provide insight from the car back to the pit wall.
Typically, that conversation had only ever occurred the other way.
An eight-time grand prix winner, Ricciardo understands the impact he can have and the value his experience offers.
“So last year, coming into it, all I wanted to do is drive, and driving again gave me so much enjoyment and happiness,” Ricciardo told Speedcafe.
“Then also, trying to get the car better, try to help the team and try to give as much feedback, and just spend that time in the engineering room, that was also as enjoyable for me.
“And I felt like the team was seeing it and benefitting from it. I was asking a lot of questions, and they were listening.”
Ricciardo joined AlphaTauri, as the team was then known, as it sat last in the constructors’ championship. In seven races, he contributed six points, helping lift the team to eighth at the end of the season.
That led to high expectations for 2024, which have not thus far been realised, with the Australian overshadowed by Yuki Tsunoda in the opening three races.
Rumours of his imminent axing have already begun to spread like wildfire despite denials from Ricciardo’s management team and senior figures within RB and Red Bull Racing (with whom he holds a contract).
Ricciardo is aware of the pressure but argues nobody puts more on him than himself. But he also sees the bigger picture for the team and how he can contribute.
“I kind of enjoy the problem-solving process and it was ‘how do we get this 10th place car better than last in the constructors’,” he said of his role as he arrived at the team.
“I think the team received that, took on my thoughts well, and I think that was exciting for me.
“It also helps me, you know. If I can help the car and help the team, it means that I’m fighting obviously further up the grid.
“So yeah, it’s just experience, being in the game obviously a long time now,” he added.
“There are things, even if things just come up, even if my intention is not to ‘I’m coming into this meeting now to try and come up with a solution’, the solution or the thought of maybe a solution just comes because I’ve just done it for so long.
“So I’ll end up just rattling off a whole lot of stuff and be ‘oh, that was fun’. So it’s experience, I guess.”
That experience also means he understands not only when to speak up but also when to shut up.
“It’s not that I’ve not put the work in before and not obviously done the engineering stuff, but it’s just I’m probably enjoying doing it more, and I think I’m just enjoying all of it again,” he reasoned.
“I’m enjoying the driving, I’m enjoying the engineering side.
“Again, going back to the experience, I’m very conscious of being very efficient. I’m not just doing it to do it; I’m not just going to say something to try to look like the guy in the room that knows it all.
“If I feel like I’ve got something to say, I will. And if I feel there’s things to work on, I’ll stay [at the track]. If we’re done, I’m leaving, I’m getting sleep, and I’m preparing for tomorrow.
“It’s just very clear to me what I need to be here for and when I don’t.”
