F1 returnee Daniel Ricciardo says that his departure from McLaren at the end of last season left him with a newfound luxury: time.
Ricciardo will return to the grid this week in Hungary as a result of Red Bull's decision to replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri and entrust the Dutchman's seat to the Australian driver.
Earlier this year, Ricciardo admitted to looking forward to a break from F1's intense demands, especially after two unsatisfactory seasons with McLaren during which he appeared to lose his heart for the sport.
With the freedom to evaluate his options and recalibrate his ambitions, Ricciardo realized that his hunger for competition and his love for F1 had not waned.
His period of introspection and race weekends spent embedded with Red Bull Racing ultimately reignited his desire to return to the grid.
"I would say the luxury of time was something that I really admired," he told Formula1.com when asked about his seven-month break.
"I’ve been in this sport for over a decade and then before that, I was climbing my way up so I kind of had been full on for [years].
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"I think it’s the 17th year I’ve been in Europe now, like away from home, so it’s a long time that you’re just in it, and you don’t have the luxury of time to look back, take a moment, assess everything.
"Because even Christmas, everything you do, there’s still thought of the upcoming season, so I think just having real off time and switching off mentally as well allowed me to, I guess, slowly fall back in love with it.
"And just I really wanted to bring that motivation back, like I wanted it to come from me, because I was still trying to find answers like is this truly still what I want to do? Or has that kind of fire slowly burned away?
"But yeah, gave myself the time, figured it all out. And then you wake up one day, it’s like that feeling alright it’s go time. And that was kind of the mentality after a couple of months off that it’s time to build this thing back up."
“I guess when you’re trying to go for the top in something, like not everyone makes it, so there’s a lot of sad stories so to speak. Not everyone has the hero story,” he told the official F1 website.
“So I think it was just important for me to remain perspective, and also learn from it all. If I truly still wanted it and had that desire then I can learn from let’s say my mistakes or weaknesses.
“So I was trying to, as much as I didn’t want to be in that position, I was still trying to find the good in it, so that it could move me forward and be a more complete version of myself. And that’s it.
“I’m certainly starting to feel this year and being back in Red Bull and all that, it feels like, okay, all this stuff happens ultimately for a reason if you use it the right way."
Although Ricciardo has little to show for his efforts with McLaren – save for his memorable win in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix – the 34-year-old insists the disappointing period, in hindsight, was a valuable learning experience.
"I guess when you’re trying to go for the top in something, like not everyone makes it, so there’s a lot of sad stories so to speak. Not everyone has the hero story," he explained.
"So I think it was just important for me to remain perspective, and also learn from it all. If I truly still wanted it and had that desire then I can learn from let’s say my mistakes or weaknesses.
"So I was trying to, as much as I didn’t want to be in that position, I was still trying to find the good in it, so that it could move me forward and be a more complete version of myself. And that’s it.
"I’m certainly starting to feel this year and being back in Red Bull and all that, it feels like, okay, all this stuff happens ultimately for a reason if you use it the right way."
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