The past year was probably the most special of Daniel Ricciardo’s entire career in Formula 1, according to Athletistic. After an unsuccessful period of cooperation with McLaren, the Australian returned to the Red Bull Racing team, where he was welcomed back as family, but in he was only a reserve driver for the first half of the racing season.

But his services were in high demand at Alpha Tauri in the summer when they refused to work with Nyck de Vries. Before returning to work, Ricciardo worked at the Pirelli tests at Silverstone with an RB19, a Red Bull Racing car.

While participating in the Beyond the Grid podcast, Daniel now spoke in detail about his impressions of the car in which Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez achieved 21 victories in 22 races of the season.

“Yes, the cars of this generation have become more efficient and have changed noticeably since 2021 – that’s why the tests went very well for me,” said Ricciardo. “But I also had the feeling that the RB19 partly had those characteristic qualities that I remembered from my previous experiences (Daniel drove for Red Bull from 2014 to 2018). And these are the qualities I’ve always liked in racing cars.

What I liked most about the RB19 was that I could drive the car however I wanted. This doesn’t explain its benefits, but it does explain why I immediately liked it so much.

I only remember the feeling I felt when I pressed the accelerator. As soon as I drove and set the speed to 50%, I immediately felt confident that I didn’t have to worry about the last 50% – the car behaved very predictably.

A fast car is not always easy to drive. No matter how good the car is, you still have to find an approach to it. I remember Max’s last season, winning races, even those under difficult conditions. Overall, the machine is simply incredible, but that doesn’t mean it does everything for you.

But of course I just loved the RB19. I enjoyed driving and it was great to be behind the wheel again. At that time, I didn’t expect to be called to AlphaTauri the following week. I assumed this could happen during the championship summer holidays.

But as soon as they told me about it, considering my mood after the tests, I thought: “Well, I’m ready, let’s do it!”