Ricciardo holds a one-year contract with RB, where the 34-year-old is essentially on loan from Red Bull Racing.
The Australian’s stated endgame for his F1 comeback is a return to the Milton Keynes squad for whom he drove from 2014-2018, winning seven times, but he confessed to Speedcafe that he would be happy sticking with RB in 2025.
“As I feel today, yes,” Ricciardo revealed.
“I’m enjoying the driving now; it’s not so much result-driven.
“Obviously, I don’t want to just be here to be here; I want to earn that seat and the team is hopefully further up.
“So yeah, I guess it goes both ways. I mean, the answer is yes.
“But is it more fun fighting at the front? Is it more fun fighting for podiums and wins? Absolutely.
“And the truth is, if I draw a line under it and I speak about myself in the third person: Why did Daniel Ricciardo return after a few months off last year? Because I believe I can stand on the podium again. I can win races again.
“Ultimately, that is it,” he added.
“The belief is there… As long as that belief is still there, I think I’ll be happy being here.
“But when I eventually do hang it up, I would love to have stood on the podium a few more times.”
Ricciardo has previously admitted to Speedcafe that he’s enjoying a more senior role within RB.
He’s working more closely with engineers and helping form a new culture in a team undergoing the most dramatic transformation in its nearly 40-year history.
That hasn’t been without its bumps, and Ricciardo’s on-track results this year have led to criticism and speculation that he could be dumped from the team well before the mid-season break.
It’s a suggestion that all parties have flatly denied, though the eight-time race winner doesn’t shy away from the fact he needs to deliver.
But he denies his current plight adds any pressure or leaves him with something to prove—at least to anyone outside himself.
“I want to make people proud and I want people that support me to feel proud of what’s going on,” he said.
“It’s not even proving anything; it’s just that you want to remind people—I want to remind some people that two races are not career-defining.
“I’m not in a bad place. I’m not coming from a lack of confidence. Just all this, whatever, it’s like yeah, you want to remind…
“In 2018, on my helmet for a little bit, I put some messages on the back of my helmet. I had ‘remind these cats’.
“People forget, you know… I want to prove it to myself that I can do stuff like I did in Mexico last year, just on a consistent basis.”
Discussion about this post