Daniel Ricciardo won’t rule out a future return to Red Bull claiming he’s learnt to “never say never” in Formula 1.
The Australian stunned the sport with news of his departure from the Anglo-Austrian team in the summer of 2018, opting for a fresh challenge at Renault.
One season in, however, his big gamble is looking like the wrong one and with his contract expiring after the next season, Ricciardo has already said he’s open to offers.
“Would I ever rule out going to Red Bull? No… I think something I’ve learned growing up in life is never say never,” he said on Sky Sports‘ vodcast on Friday.
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As for the current status of talks over a possible new Renault deal…
“It is hard having chats right now because we are at a stalemate – nothing’s really happened. Normally chats start to come off the back of races, results and momentum,” Ricciardo explained.
“There’s honestly not a lot to talk about for now, it’s more about the current situation and how we’re going to deal with it. It’s all pretty slow and steady to be honest at this stage.”
Red Bull have previously claimed the door is closed on Ricciardo coming back in the future, however, team boss Christian Horner admits he’d still baffled why he left in the first place.
“I was disappointed at the time because I’d put a lot into trying to retain Daniel and get him to stay,” he told journalist Natalie Pinkham. “I just couldn’t understand his decision-making.
“I like Daniel very much, he’s a great guy, he was a great member of this team and if I take off my Red Bull hat I couldn’t understand his logic behind the move that he made.
“If it was for Mercedes or Ferrari I could have understood that.”
As for whether he feels Ricciardo has any regrets following a year stuck in the midfield.
“I think only Daniel can answer that,’ Horner replied. “Had he been in the team last year he would have been challenging for victories and pole positions but that wasn’t the case.
“What his thoughts on that are, I’m not a mind-reader.”