Does Ricciardo regret choices in F1 career? 'Would have liked to have won more'
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- Sam Godber
After the 2018 Formula 1 season, Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull Racing, where he was Max Verstappen's teammate up to that point. According to many, a big mistake, given his largely disappointing results in the following years at Renault and McLaren. The 34-year-old Australian himself sees it as a teaching moment.
After two years at Renault, Ricciardo left for McLaren, where he became teammate of Lando Norris. It did not bring him the dream results, although he did capture the first win in years for the Woking-based team. During his time with the team, he was constantly overshadowed by his younger teammate, which led to McLaren buying out his three-year contract early to clear the way for Oscar Piastri.
In the first half of the 2023 F1 season, Ricciardo sat on the sidelines after his old team Red Bull welcomed him back as a third driver. Nyck de Vries ' disappointing results at AlphaTauri and Ricciardo's successful Pirelli tyre test earned him a permanent seat at Red Bull's sister team.
Ricciardo on F1 choices
In hindsight, the Perth-based driver says he would not have done things any differently. "I think it’s probably at that age now as well where I don’t I don’t really look back on anything with regret," he said in conversation with Fox Sports Australia. "They’re not necessarily losses, they’re lessons learned. And yeah, of course, I would love to have won more in my career, but then maybe winning would have got boring and maybe I would have not appreciated that as much, or whatever."
"I wouldn't change it," he adds. "As long as I can continue to, I would say just grow and become better from experience then I’m pretty content." Ricciardo hopes to return at the Qatar Grand Prix, having missed several races due to a broken metacarpal. However, Christian Horner hinted that his recovery could last until the US GP. In the meantime, Ricciardo will be replaced by Liam Lawson.