“He’s a fantastic racing driver” - Alpine boss confirms they held discussions with Daniel Ricciardo over possible return to team 

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has said that the French team were interested in welcoming back Daniel Ricciardo to the fold after Fernando Alonso's departure at the end of last season.

During the off-season. Ricciardo announced his departure from McLaren after two unsuccessful seasons with the team. He was one of the candidates for the Alpine seat after Alonso decided to leave the team for Aston Martin. However, Alpine eventually went for Pierre Gasly.

Speaking to Motorsportweek, Szafnaur said about Ricciardo:

“We had discussions with Daniel and ended up with Pierre when he became available. He’s signed with Red Bull now, but I think he’s a fantastic racing driver; he’s still young, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back racing in the future.”

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner also said that he will start talking to Daniel Ricciardo about a possible race seat sometime in the future:

“It’s a little bit early to speak about a driver change already for next year, so let’s see how we are doing with these drivers! For sure at some point, maybe I’ll speak with him, but I cannot promise anything, because if our two guys do a good job, I think (that’s) where I stand with it. Everybody is (going to) want to speak with Daniel. With the year off, maybe he knows again what he wants to do, and he will be interesting for everybody in F1.

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"The signs are pointing towards getting back on the grid" - Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo, who's the reserve driver for Red Bull Racing, said that he might return to the grid next season. Speaking to ESPN, he said:

"The signs are pointing towards getting back on the grid. I feel like that's where I'm tracking in my head and a few of the habits that I'm having or doing is pointing towards that. It's only been a few months (out of F1), but I think some itches have been scratched, so to speak."

He continued:

"I've weirdly found that the days that I've had no schedule are the days when I've actually done training, and I've done things like I would before. So I don't know, being my own boss, and writing my own schedule has actually brought out a lot of the things in me, when I thought I might just sit on the couch and watch movies all day and eat junk food, I'm just not. That's not me. So even these things have made me realise how much I do care about it."

It will be interesting to see where Daniel Ricciardo ends up at if he decides to come back to the sport in 2024.