Daniel Ricciardo has officially announced that he will be a part of the Formula One 2023 season and has joined Red Bull as their third driver for next season. Ricciardo makes his return to the team that he spent five years with between 2014 and 2018. 

The Australian found most of his success in F1 with Red Bull and his career has been on a downward decline since leaving them.

Ricciardo joined Renault after leaving the racing team registered in Austria and spent two seasons with them in 2019 and 2020 before joining McLaren racing. 

However, the Honey Badger’s time at McLaren has been extremely underwhelming and besides the 2021 Italian Grand Prix victory where the British auto manufacturer also completed a 1-2, it has been a less-than-stellar record for him.

As a result, McLaren decided to drop him before the end of the season and Ricciardo was unable to secure a full-time driver’s seat with any of the 10 Formula1 sides for next season.

Despite being unable to feature as a full-time driver, Ricciardo was eager to continue and maintain a role within F1 in some capacity and he will now partner with world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez at Red Bull. The 33-year-old will take part in testing, simulator work, and commercial duties.

It will be interesting to see the dynamic between Ricciardo and Verstappen as one of the biggest reasons why he left Red Bull in the first place was because he felt that they had been focusing too much on the Dutch youngster, instead of him.

The Australian also added that he preferred to take a year away from full-time driving duties in F1 rather than take a seat with one of the teams from the lower reaches of the F1 grid. Ricciardo also said that he’s enthusiastic about his new role at Red Bull.

 “I’m truly excited to be coming back home,” he said. “For me, the ability to contribute to and be surrounded by the best team in F1 is hugely appealing, whilst also giving me some time to recharge and refocus.”

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, welcomed Ricciardo’s return but has already made it clear he is not being lined up to replace Pérez. “Daniel’s contract is very specific for a specific reason, we have a contract with Checo for the next two years,” he said last week.