Daniel Ricciardo admits he's surprised by how far McLaren has come since his time at Woking which came to a premature end, but that he holds no ill feelings as he looks to the future at RB.
Although Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in a McLaren 1-2 with Lando Norris, his time in papaya was marked by notable frustration and disappointments as he struggled to get the most out of a problematic car.
An early departure from McLaren was negotiated. Ricciardo's seat was taken by rookie driver Oscar Piastri, while Ricciardo spent half a season on the sidelines before returning to the fray at AlphaTauri (now VCARB).
But if the plan was to shine at RB and eventually reclaim his seat at Red Bull, that opportunity hasn't materialised. Although Ricciardo was tenth in Spa last weekend, he remains behind current team mate Yuki Tsunoda in the points.
All of which leaves Ricciardo looking back at what might have been at McLaren, and what he needs to happen next at RB if he is to extend his time in F1 beyond the end of the current season.
“Obviously, most of my time there was a bit more of a struggle or a challenge,” he told Motorsportweek.com when asked about McLaren's surge. “Did I predict this? I’m not going to say yes, because I don’t think I did.
"I guess from that point of view, it is a bit of a surprise that in two years - less than two years - they are probably currently the quickest package on the grid," he admitted.
“But I also don’t look at that like, ‘Oh man, like if only I could have had that’. That’s the sport, that’s how it is,” he said.
“Anyone in this sport that’s doing well and developing and making such a big step in a short amount of time, you have to complement that.”
As for his own current situation, Ricciardo said he wouldn't be happy to see RB remain the Red Bull 'junior team' and hoped that the overhaul of leadership with Laurent Mekies succeeding Franz Tost as principal would give them new ambition.
"A change sometimes is good. You bring in new ideas," he said in Spa. "It does feel different, you know, and I think it’s easy to kind of rebrand it and say we’ve got a new look and with this and that, but your actions have to follow.
“It’s not that what was happening in the past with Franz wasn’t the right thing," he insisted. "Laurent, Peter [Bayer], Alan [Permane], a lot of guys that have come in ... They’ve all spent time in other teams, organisations.
"[They bring] a new way of looking at things, and I think that in itself and their intentions and the way they go about it has made people kind of stand up and say, alright, this isn’t a junior team anymore.
“We’re making, kind of, big boy decisions and we’re taking risks and we’re setting targets and high targets and ones that we realistically think that we can attain," he said, eying a McLaren-like rise to come.
"It’s cool to see it," he said, adding that "if it felt like a junior team still, I wouldn’t feel comfortable here. I’m 35 now so I think I would feel a bit out of place, and I certainly don’t."
That said, Ricciardo has made no secret of his hopes of moving back to Red Bull should the senior team drop Sergio Perez. That's not happening now, Ricciardo admitting he hadn't been consistent enough this year to stake a strong claim.
"We haven't been able to just be that consistent Q3 guy, or get the points every weekend, so that's where I haven't done well, week in week out," he conceded. "In this sport that can be a big downfall."
"At least the big results have been big enough where people then say, 'Oh, he can still put a good lap together'," he said. "I'm happy about [the fact that] I've still got it, and it's just up to me to show it more often.
"I think the 'It' factor, when people question that, at least more than once, I've been able to say, 'Okay, I can do it'", he smiled. "I've just got to sort my s**t out."
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