Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he thought he’d never race in F1 again and has to remove “all ego and status” this year in order to secure a return to the grid. After 11-and-a-half consecutive seasons with a seat in F1, the likeable Aussie was dropped by McLaren at the end of the last campaign following a disappointing two-year spell and failed to find another team to take him on as one of their two race drivers. At the age of 33, he was forced to swallow his pride and accept a role as reserve driver at Red Bull, doing “everything the drivers are doing… other than the driving”, in pursuit of one of those 20 golden seats on the grid. And last week his chance came as he was chosen to replace the axed Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, officially on loan from Red Bull to their sister team for the remainder of the season, meaning he will be in the cockpit at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. It is a lifeline back into F1 and even though he ultimately only missed 10 races, the now-34-year-old admits he thought his career was over. “After Abu Dhabi last year, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever race again,” Ricciardo revealed to The Independent in an exclusive interview. “But coming back this year, I removed all ego and status. “I do think this year will be the best thing that’s ever happened to me and it will boost me now for the rest of my career. It honestly came at the right time… everything happens for a reason.” Ricciardo tried to make the most of his enforced time off, escaping the mental and physical rigours of F1 for a life of attending Super Bowls, PGA Tour golf events and Met Galas in New York. He enjoyed those moments, and loved being able to return to Australia for his birthday earlier this month for the first time in 17 years, but the competitive itch soon returned. “I’ve really enjoyed this time off, to have the time for myself,” he said. “Last week I went home to Australia for my birthday, I haven’t done that since I was 17. “It honestly came at the right time. Look, I wish those two years [at McLaren] were better. But it’s given me a mental break because the competition is intense, as much as we love it. It consumes a lot of you so I feel for me to bring my cortisol levels down a little bit, I just feel a lot more balanced this year. “I didn’t want to see a gym for a while. I just wanted to eat and drink with my mates. Out of principle, I wanted to give myself a break. Just to allow myself to put on a few kgs. It felt really good, I trained just once in December and January. “I got to February and remember thinking ‘yeah, I’m done.’ I’d had enough. I didn’t feel like drinking every weekend and partying all the time. I wasn’t going crazy but I thought ‘this life isn’t for me just yet’. “And then I became very self-motivated. I wanted it to come from me, I didn’t want someone telling me to run. I had this urge and desire to be back on the grid – and I’ve never enjoyed training so much. I’ve got more energy to train and the desire has increased, especially not being jet-lagged every fricking week!” After an impressive Silverstone tyre test at the British Grand Prix in F1’s fastest car, Red Bull chiefs Helmut Marko and Christian Horner swiftly made the call to get Ricciardo in the AlphaTauri. And the potential carrot is even greater than a permanent seat at one of the grid’s backmarkers. It’s an open secret that Horner is becoming increasingly frustrated with Sergio Perez, as the Mexican’s increasingly poor performances aren’t giving Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen the support he needs on his unstoppable march to the title. The second driver slot at Red Bull could well open up as soon as the end of this season and, with impressive performances at their sister team, Ricciardo could put himself in position to be sharing a garage with Verstappen. He admits that the ultimate ambition – race wins, maybe even a world championship – is still at the forefront of his mind. “That is the reason I would come back,” added Ricciardo. “I still believe I can do it. I feel like the Red Bull Daniel. He is still here.” Read More Daniel Ricciardo on his F1 comeback, the moment he decided to race again and how he wants his career to end Red Bull has handed Daniel Ricciardo the first step to Sergio Perez’s seat Daniel Ricciardo returns to F1 as he replaces Nyck de Vries

The Cincinnati Bengals will be without Joe Burrow for the rest of the season, and the bad news doesn't stop there.

Elon Musk’s X Corp. sued a nonprofit group that monitors online hate speech, accusing it of falsely describing

AC Milan has taken the first formal step to moving away from the iconic San Siro, which it shares with Inter Milan, and building a new stadium in the southern part of the city

"Oppenheimer" seeks to match the mythological nature of its central theme -- an "American Prometheus," punished for bringing humankind the seeds of its potential destruction -- with a movie of equal heft, scale and (most of all) length. Writer-director Christopher Nolan's epic film essentially consists of three chapters, with the middle, Atlas-like, holding up the weaker, drawn-out beginning and end.

Logan Paul pledged earlier this year to invest $2 million in order to make up for the losses

TL;DR: August 26 is International Dog Day and you can celebrate by shopping deals on

The New York Yankees didn't do much at the trade deadline, passing on selling. Here are three players Brian Cashman is going to regret not trading.The New York Yankees are in last place in their division entering Aug. 1, the day of the MLB trade deadline. While the team has played uninspiri...

Elon Musk is making another big change to Twitter and this one might be the most significant yet - its name. The latest alteration the South African billionaire is making to the site, which he payed $44 billion for in 2022 is to rebrand it as 'X.' No, that's not a typo or a placeholder for a name we've forgot to put in, that's literally what Musk is planning to call Twitter from now on. It follows in Musk's long-standing obsession with the word (Space X, Tesla Model X his own child X Æ A-12) having already brought the X.com domain name which just redirects you to Twitter. Musk announced on Sunday "X.com now points to twitter.com. Interim X logo goes live later today." At the time of writing the change hasn't gone ahead but the switch shouldn't come as a surprise as Twitter's company name was changed to X Holdings Corp in April. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On Sunday, Linda Yaccarino, the current Twitter CEO (or should that be X CEO) tweeted: "It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square." This new update to Twitter is likely to cause more confusion and unrest about Musk's influence on the site, especially with competitors like Threads growing exponentially. That being said one thing that X is still good for is memes, especially those at Musk's expense. Twitter: 2006 - 2023 Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

IndiGo reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates, as rising fuel costs offset the post-Covid travel rebound at

With temperatures rising, Milan designers focused on fluidity in dressing, allowing the body to move without constrictions

According to official reports, NFL star Alex Collins, 28, was killed in a motorcycle crash in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida