General
'This was the reason Ricciardo wanted to leave Red Bull in 2018'
- Cas van de Kleut
Daniel Ricciardo returned to the Formula 1 grid last weekend. The Australian replaced Nyck de Vries and immediately managed to beat teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Nico Rosberg is positive about 'The Honeybadger'.
From 2016, Ricciardo was Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull Racing. After 2018, the eight-time race winner left Red Bull to join Renault. The switch was not what Ricciardo expected from it beforehand, and so Ricciardo decided to join McLaren from 2021. Despite the former teammate of Lando Norris winning a race at Monza, the McLaren adventure also did not turn out to be what he expected. After the 2022 season, Ricciardo's contract was paid off, only to have him replaced by Oscar Piastri.
The reason Ricciardo left Red Bull
So now the Australian is back on the grid, and for a team he drove for before, AlphaTauri (then Torro Rosso). Rosberg explains to Sky Sports how he views Ricciardo's earlier departure from the Red Bull family: "I think he just didn't feel comfortable in the team anymore. There was this rising star in Max Verstappen who was getting more and more support in the team and he just saw an opportunity to go to another team and be the star there and open up a new chapter and that was his decision at the time. I don't think he would call it a mistake looking back, I'm not sure."
In any case, the former world champion is very happy to see the Australian back again. "He's such an awesome personality, one of the best wheel-to-wheel racers out there," he said.