Though he has made no secret of his desire to return to Red Bull Racing in future, Daniel Ricciardo is not thinking about that as a possibility for now.
Ricciardo returned to the F1 grid in Hungary after sitting out the opening 10 races of the season.
His return came courtesy of Scuderia AlphaTauri, who axed Nyck de Vries during the course of a tyre test at Silverstone in the days following the British Grand Prix.
Ricciardo’s return, coupled with his stated ambitions, creates a degree of expectation upon the Australian as the Scuderia AlphaTauri drive is only certain for 2023.
He therefore has, now, just 11 races to show his worth and that, potentially, could do a better job than Sergio Perez.
The Mexican is Max Verstappen’s partner at the energy drink’s senior F1 operation and has a contract through to the end of next year.
However, pressure has been mounting following a string of disappointing Saturday performances, which have typically compromised his Sunday result.
In Hungary, Perez qualified ninth before racing forward to third, while Verstappen narrowly missed pole before dominating the race.
On debut at Scuderia AlphaTauri, Ricciardo delivered the team’s best Saturday performance since the Monaco Grand Prix, and its best finish since Barcelona in early June.
“That’s, call it the dream, so to speak,” Ricciardo said of a return to Red Bull Racing.
“But there’s no point me thinking about that. There’s going to be a lot of work to do here.
“I think in terms of expectation, there is none,” he added.
“It’s just for me to everything I felt driving the car [in Silverstone] is how I want to go racing again, I just want to be in the moment enjoying it, not thinking too far ahead.
“I’ve got to do the best with what I’ve got, and I think that’s where, if it’s something that I feel I can work with, then that’s all I need to then obviously feel good behind the wheel again, and also obviously use some of my experience to push the team.”
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