Daniel Ricciardo struggled for form during two years with McLaren in which he finished eighth in 2021 and 11th in 2022 and saw his contract terminated a year early
Daniel Ricciardo has praised Sebastian Vettel for being a wonderful friend to him during his difficult days at McLaren.
Ricciardo was with McLaren for two years but struggled with form, finishing eighth in 2021 and 11th in 2022. McLaren agreed to finish his contract a year early, allowing the Australian to join Red Bull and become a third driver.
It was a bad point in Ricciardo’s F1 career, but his former Red Bull teammate Vettel helped him get through it. The four-time world champion worked with Ricciardo at Red Bull before moving on to Ferrari, and he stayed in touch to assist him.
“He’s picked up the phone multiple times, and just been a friend, and just, like, showing care, just checking in, checking in as a true friend would do,” Ricciardo told the Beyond the Grid podcast. “To have friends like that is so important. But it’s also not that common, in terms of the grid.
“We get on with drivers, and you do build friendships, but to have that kind of deeper level of friendship….some gestures he made, and some of the kindness he showed towards me was, in a way, kind of unexpected.”
Ricciardo landed on his feet at Red Bull after impressing Christian Horner and Helmut Marko with a strong performance in a private test at Silverstone. Ricciardo recalled the moment he realized he had salvaged his Formula One career, saying, “I’m not going to sugar coat it – the first timed lap was on the money.”
“It was a few hundredths off Max [Verstappen]. Coming into that lap, I was so excited. I was treating it like a qualifying lap. I just had that feeling in the car and that confidence. There was elements of the car that felt so familiar… I kind of just knew what it could do and what it was capable of.
“I’m not going to say it was easy or effortless, but I had a lot of confidence the car could do what it could do. Crossing the line, when I looked at the time, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I was expecting to go that quick’. I knew the day had potential to be a really good day, but I’d be lying if I said I was going to do that first lap with new tyres. That was kind of wild. It gave me a big smile.”
Ricciardo only raced seven times for AlphaTauri this year after missing five due to a hand injury, having taken over for the struggling Nyck de Vries. The 34-year-old is now in a much stronger position as the 2024 season approaches.
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