Ricciardo: Ending my F1 career as a Red Bull driver would be “perfect”

Ricciardo will race with Red Bull’s sister team - AlphaTauri - in 2024 after making a sensational mid-season comeback.

The Australian was drafted in as a replacement for Nyck de Vries for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

Red Bull gave Ricciardo the nod after he impressed during his test day with the team following the British Grand Prix.

Speaking on the latest episode of F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, Ricciardo once again spoke about wanting to return to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

“I'm not even going to put a day, or date on it, or year, whatever,” he said. “I think coming back into it and jumping back in with the Red Bull family, doing the test in July, all these things, working with Simon again, that's really the dream. 

“Honestly, to end my career as a Red Bull driver would be perfect. 

“Not that I'm looking at the end, but if I go back there, then I'll certainly make sure I finish there.”

Reflecting on his return to Red Bull at the end of 2022, following his torrid McLaren stint, Ricciardo admitted he was “nervous” about his first day back in the factory after leaving the team for Renault in 2019.

“I only saw how low I was after the fact,” he added. “Walking into the factory that day, I was definitely a bit nervous, but there was a part of me which was definitely excited as well, because I realised maybe this is another chance, you know?

“And who better to do it with than the team that really got me here in the first place? The sim that day didn't go particularly well. Then obviously I went home for Christmas and had all this time off. I wasn’t completely myself.”