Ricciardo does talk to Horner and Marko, unlike Tsunoda

Last year, Ricciardo returned to Red Bull as a test and reserve driver after forays at Renault (now Alpine) and McLaren. The Perth-based driver was again used as one of Red Bull's signposts and he was used in necessary marketing activities. Due to Nyck de Vries ' poor performance at AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB), he got another F1 seat sooner than expected. So now another promotion beckons.

Does he still have much contact with Red Bull? "I still speak with Christian and Helmut on that side quite a lot," said Ricciardo, who is otherwise not really in touch with other personnel from Milton Keynes. "I mean, that's a lot still goes through them, honestly, so that's that. I mean, other parts of the team, not really, because obviously I'm here [at VCARB}, and I focus on this stuff here with my team and my engineers and everything. Obviously, last year I was inside the drivers' meetings, the post-session debriefs, and asking all the engineers some questions and whatever, but clearly that's not the case now"

"But Christian and Helmut, it's good to see them after a good result," he continued. "Helmut will still let you know when the result's not good. But I definitely feel happy being back in that and under that kind of microscope, if you will and in that environment with a little bit of that pressure. It’s fun, but that's probably the best way I can answer it."

But the fact that Ricciardo still talks to Horner and Marko relatively often is somewhere remarkable. Yuki Tsunoda has hardly any contact with Red Bull representatives, he revealed in Belgium. Does Ricciardo have an edge over Tsunoda?

Return to Red Bull?

When Ricciardo was put back in the car last year, Horner's ultimate goal was to have him return to Red Bull in due course. The 35-year-old driver knows that a return as Max Verstappen's teammate is not ruled out in advance.

"I don't want to say you're as good as your last race, but when it comes to these moments, these races are more critical than any other. So as I said, coming into Budapest, and this wasn't anything I'd heard from them, but even just myself, just telling myself, ‘Look, these could be two very, very important races in my career,’ and just leave it all out there and do everything I can. And yeah, going up, as I said last year, that's my goal."

Uncertainty about future

Ricciardo wants nothing more than a return to the Austrian racing stable, but at the same time knows he does not even have a seat for 2025 yet. "There are also talks [by the media] if will I even be here [in F1] next year. There is so much to kind of fight for. I think for that, I just really made a point, every race you prepare, and of course you do what you can, but I just made a point for these two coming up to leave it all out there and, that's that. So we'll see.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy