Does Daniel Ricciardo Deserve a Formula One Return?

As we enter what would be Ricciardo's home race, fans are left wondering if the honey badger will ever make an official return to the starting grid.

For many casual fans (myself included) Daniel Ricciardo was the most influential driver on the grid. As the star of season one of Netflix’s Drive to Survive many viewed Ricciardo as their face of Formula One. We as fans of the show follow him throughout a season where he was deciding his future culminating in his departure from Red Bull to then Renault.

As we know now, the move was more fueled by Ricciardo’s ego and need to be ‘the man’ of whatever team he finds himself a part of. This was the case at Red Bull, Renault, and finally McLaren.

It has seemed that overall, the magic has waned with each move Ricciardo enacted throughout the past half decade. This culminating in a mostly disastrous move for McLaren seeing Daniel outperformed by youngster phenom Lando Norris. It felt most times as if Norris was lightyears ahead of the nine-time Grand Prix winner, and Riccardo was stuck playing catchup.

It was these struggles that resulted in McLaren biting the bullet and buying out the contract of Ricciardo. While it seemed for a short bit that Daniel could have suitors, he quickly removed them by declining opportunities at both Haas and Williams for more ‘competitive cars’. Long story short it’s 2023 and Daniel Ricciardo is no longer a familiar face in the sport. Instead, he is the reserve driver for Red Bull in a sad full circle type of story.

In a sport where driver lineups are in flux constantly. There could be cases where Daniel could make a comeback in the years to come. Did anyone think Kevin Magnusson and Niko Hulkenberg would make returns to the sport? I think the window might be more open than people realize. It might be more up to Riccardo and what he is willing to let go of in the case of ego.

Seats at the lower-level teams will always fluctuate. While it is easy right now with the state of the Red Bull driving duo to assume that if shit hits the fan, Riccardo would simply slot into the number two driver and solve the problem. The issue would also be that Riccardo seemed to struggle with the new era of Formula One that was enacted last year and if anything, the sport is less like it was in Ricciardo’s prime.

The case could be made that the time off could allow Riccardo time to reflect on what about his driving caused great struggles at McLaren. It seems hard for drivers to adapt from generation to generation, especially when they excelled at point where they feel it is the car more than themselves at fault. Last season, as limited as the McLaren was, Lando Norris was seen being a competitive midfield car driver. Ricciardo felt like he was near the back grid more times than not being outperformed by lesser machinery.

If Ricciardo decides to call it quits rather than jump back into the game, it could makes sense. As one of, if not, the most personable driver the sport has seen, a deal to be the face of media for Formula One could be in the cards. However, as we approach what is considered to be the home race for Daniel Ricciardo many think of how a comeback could conceivably occur for the Aussie. I know people want it but are we sure that Daniel does?