Daniel Ricciardo has no set targets for what success looks like as he makes his sensational return to the Formula 1 grid in Hungary this weekend.
Ricciardo will line up alongside Yuki Tsunoda at Scuderia AlphaTauri after the squad dumped Nyck de Vries.
The Australian had been sidelined since leaving McLaren at the end of the 2022 season.
He took on a third driver role with Red Bull, which has seen him back in the F1 paddock at times, and at the wheel of the RB19 in a Silverstone tyre test last week.
Beyond that, his involvement had been limited to marketing duties and time in the team’s simulator – a task he previously dreaded but has derived renewed pleasure from with Red Bull.
The Australian has confessed that he’s fallen back in love with the sport over the past eight months, which has enticed him back onto the grid despite Scuderia AlphaTauri being the sport’s least competitive team.
That will see Ricciardo face off against Tsunoda in a battle at the back end of the grid, making assessing success difficult.
It’s an important point though as the loan deal with Scuderia AlphaTauri lasts only for the balance of 2023. Beyond that, the West Aussie’s place on the F1 grid is far from certain.
“There’s no real criteria at the moment but I need to show I need to show something for sure,” the 33-year-old said when asked by Speedcafe how he’ll measure his stint with a Scuderia AlphaTauri.
“For next year and beyond, there’s no guarantees – probably ever with this sport.
“In a way, I said the summer break would have been more conventional… I’ve probably got two races and then the break, so I’ve got some things to think about over the course of the break.
“So I’m going to try and just soak up as much of these two [races] as I can and then obviously, come Zandvoort, have a little bit more of a guidance or awareness of where I probably expect to be.”
This weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix is followed by the Belgian GP next weekend, the last two rounds before F1’s mandatory summer shutdown.
Racing resumes with the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix on consecutive weekends starting at the end of August, with another eight events to round out the 2023 campaign.
It’s a 12-race stint that will define Ricciardo’s future.
“I think already getting an opportunity, you know, it’s kind of another chance to make things better, if you will,” he reasoned.
“I think that’s as well why I was excited to get back behind the wheel and just kind of show my true self.
“And even the thought of that excites me.”
The end game is a race drive with Red Bull, a seat currently filled by Sergio Perez. It’s a stretch goal.
“Obviously I dream of the Red Bull seat but there is no like, ‘this is what you need to do’,” Ricciardo said of his potential journey back to the drinks brand’s senior team.
“Everything’s happened so quick.
“Obviously, the test was the first box I needed to tick, that was great, but now it’s like, alright, this is obviously another hurdle.
“You know what they’re [Red Bull] like; they [aren’t] like ‘take it easy’ but show us what you got… There’s no criteria.”
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