Despite suffering a broken wrist at the Dutch Grand Prix and missing five races, he still did enough to prove that he was the right choice for a VCARB seat this year.
But that isn’t where he wants his journey to end, with a chance at a prospective Red Bull seat for 2025 part of the 34-year old’s plan.
As he revealed on Netflix’s Drive to Survive, he intends to show his best hand in 2024 as he bids to line up alongside current world champion Max Verstappen in the future.
“The full-circle dream for me is to get back at Red Bull Racing,” he said. “That would be, like, complete for me.
“If I find a way to kick some a***, it could put me back in a position to take a top seat in the sport. The Honey Badger’s back. I need to remind these cats.
“I’m really excited to drive again. I think that’ll bring a lot of confidence and a lot of joy in me and hopefully, give me a chance to show my true self. To have Yuki as a team-mate, it’s another challenge. Curious to see how he performs."
Another decisive part of Ricciardo’s future will be how well Sergio Perez decides to perform for Red Bull throughout the upcoming season.
With their rivals set to close in, it would be naive to think that Red Bull are not in need of a driver that can push Max Verstappen to his limits – and Ricciardo could be the perfect option to do that.