Daniel Ricciardo says he would welcome winning again in Formula 1 as a “bonus” in the second phase of his career but not as a prerequisite to judging his success.
Ricciardo’s return to the grid at last summer’s Hungarian Grand Prix, when he replaced the underperforming Nyck de Vries, was a relatively smooth affair as was his second race with the team at Spa.
However, a crash during Free Practice 2 at the Dutch Grand Prix shattered his metacarpal, sidelining him for five crucial races.
Despite the setback, Ricciardo's return to the fray in Austin marked a resurgence. But his display in Mexico City was particularly noteworthy, as he secured a remarkable fourth-place qualifying position.
The Aussie’s stellar performance at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was followed by a solid run to seventh-place finish in the race.
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The weekend was the high point of the 34-year-old’s comeback efforts and a moment that revived his winning spirit. It was a rebirth of sorts for F1’s Honey Badger.
“A weekend like Mexico, that's a weekend where I felt everything I needed to feel again,” said Ricciardo, speaking at last month’s Abu Dhabi season finale.
“Obviously the team was very happy, everyone was happy, and those things help kind of everything moving forward.
“To put the car in a position where people don't expect to see that car, that's stuff that excites you. And the fourth [in Mexico] felt like a pole, because it felt like the AlphaTauri this year had no [right] to be on the second row of the grid.
“It just didn't ever look like that, so that sort of stuff gets me excited, definitely gets the butterflies going inside me. And if that can happen, it could obviously open up doors later on to fight for wins again.
“But as much as I want to win again, it's really because I believe I can. But I'm not going to dictate this second phase of my career just on that; dictate my happiness, dictate how I classify success in this second phase.
“To win again would be a bonus [but] I feel like I'm not carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, and it's kind of nice.”
Ricciardo obviously lamented the hand injury sustained at Zandvoort and its costly consequences. But he doesn’t feel that the setback diminished the luster of his F1 comeback.
“I wish this never happened, because it was uncomfortable and painful and whatever,” he explained.
“But now that it's obviously done, I still look back on this year as a positive, because sitting here [in Abu Dhabi] a year ago, I was like, 'Could this be my last race?'
“Genuinely, I don't exaggerate when I say that, I really didn't know; I honestly thought it was 50/50. So to kind of have the year I've had – forget the hand, I just kind of feel a little bit… reborn again is kind of the right word.
“I feel just re-energised, I've definitely got a second wind.
“Even if I speak of the hand, for this not to feel like a setback probably speaks volumes. I could see how maybe some people would see that lame accident with high consequences like 'yeah, maybe Daniel should just give it up, that's probably just a sign that he should just call it a day.'
“But I never thought that, I never felt like that. So that was maybe even more power to the decision of trying to kick some butt!”
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