Daniel Ricciardo has asserted that he is “in a happy place” after returning to the Formula 1 grid with AlphaTauri this season. Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren at the end of the 2022 campaign amid a difficult two years with the Woking-based squad. The Australian was consistently out-paced by Lando Norris as he struggled to get up to speed within the team. Ricciardo returned to Red Bull in a third driver role for this year, several years after opting to leave the organisation for a different challenge. However, he was ushered back to the grid midway through the year to replace Nyck de Vries - but his time was shortlived as he injured his hand during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend which sidelined him for several weeks. After his return from injury, Ricciardo scored a seventh-place result in Mexico and secured a spot with the team for next season.
Ricciardo has declared that he is in a better state of mind now compared to his time at McLaren. “I think when I look back on this year, it's a year I never would have expected in so many ways,” Ricciardo told media including RacingNews365.com . “I didn't expect to be racing at all this year, let alone kind of going through everything else. So it's something that I'm definitely happy [about]. “The place I am and what I feel, let's say inside my heart ultimately, I'm really in a happy place, and I'm happy being here racing again. “I'd say like, just fully hungry and motivated. It's probably the first off-season that I would not really want an off-season. “I want to keep racing and keep a bit of the flow going. But also the thought of having a little bit of a break and getting myself prepared for next year, that excites me as well.
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