The Australian, who is currently recovering from a broken arm, left Formula 1 altogether at the end of last year after two struggling years at McLaren.
Ricciardo told Goodwood’s official website, I have never had a falling out with anyone in the team, but it is all based on performance and let’s say, the business side is not successful.
The 33-year-old admitted he was made redundant but actually returned to Australia and was no longer interested.
“In a way, I thank them for making that decision because we were in a hole and I wasn’t sure if we could get out of it,” Ricciardo said.
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner is considered one of the key figures behind Ricciardo’s return to the energy drink company’s F1 family. Horner says he picked up a lot of bad habits. Some members of his old engineering team had to dismantle some things and very quickly, in the virtual world, bring it back to the level we were used to.
Ricciardo, 33, broke his arm shortly after returning to the Alpha Tauri youth team, but will be a full-time member of the team in 2024.
However, speculation is swirling that Sergio Perez is struggling at Red Bull Racing – despite the Mexican driver’s 2024 contract.
When asked about Horner, Ricciardo said:
“The way I felt coming back to my family, his investment in me, his care, his open arms, I felt like he was a really supportive person. help me. He really wanted me to get back to the level he knew I could be at.
A lot of people have probably lost faith in me over the past few years, but I felt like the things he was doing made me feel comfortable, putting me in touch with (former race engineer) Simon (Rennie), who He still believes I can do it and he just wants to see it.
And now his mission is to return to his old place with Max Verstappen.
“I told Christian, ‘Look, now that I’m back with my family, I feel so much happier and love myself so much that I don’t want to leave.’
The important thing is that I really want to return to the best team. If that means I get to come back next year then that’s exciting too,” he said.
Leave a Reply