Daniel Ricciardo has openly admitted that returning to Red Bull is his “dream”, but that for the time being there’s “no point” thinking about a return to Milton Keynes.
After just over six months behind-the-scenes at Red Bull as their development driver, Ricciardo made his eagerly awaited return to racing at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend for AlphaTauri.
It was announced ahead of the recent round that Red Bull would be loaning Ricciardo to AlphaTauri for the remainder of the 2023 season, following the sudden sacking of rookie Nyck de Vries.
Ricciardo on his return to the sister team performed brilliantly at the Hungaroring, with him having out-qualified team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
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The 34-year-old progressed to Q2 and secured 13th on the grid, a position he finished in on Sunday.
His P13 finish in the race again saw him finish ahead of his Japanese team-mate, despite the fact Ricciardo was hit on the opening lap by Zhou Guanyu and tumbled to the back of the field.
Ricciardo’s 13th place finish marked the Faenza-based team’s best result since the Spanish Grand Prix, suggesting that he’s very much back.
If he continues to perform well, then Red Bull might have to consider their former driver for a seat in the main fold again.
That’s what the driver is aiming for; however, he recognises that at this current moment he has a “lot of work to do” at AlphaTauri.
“That’s, call it the dream, so to speak,” Ricciardo said of a return to Red Bull Racing, as reported by Speedcafe.com.
“But there’s no point me thinking about that. There’s going to be a lot of work to do here.
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“I think in terms of expectation, there is none,” Ricciardo added.
“It’s just for me to everything I felt driving the car [in Silverstone] is how I want to go racing again, I just want to be in the moment enjoying it, not thinking too far ahead.
“I’ve got to do the best with what I’ve got, and I think that’s where, if it’s something that I feel I can work with, then that’s all I need to then obviously feel good behind the wheel again, and also obviously use some of my experience to push the team.”