“I do really feel, let’s say, at peace with it,” added Ricciardo, who got here again to F1 with RB halfway via 2023 after being dropped by McLaren. “In some unspecified time in the future, it’ll come for all of us… I feel additionally, I attempted to get again into Crimson Bull, it didn’t work out, so then I additionally should say, ‘Okay, what else am I in the end doing right here and making an attempt to attain?’… Let’s say possibly the fairytale ending didn’t occur, however I additionally should look again on what it’s been. Fourteen or so years and I’m proud.
“I feel if you’ve skilled the highs of successful, you possibly can solely combat for P10 for therefore lengthy. There may be nothing like that feeling, and if that not is feasible, and whether it is turning into a little bit tougher – that’s the reality: I used to be in a position to do some moments of possibly greatness this yr, however it was trickier to do it week in, week out. Possibly that’s [being] 35, possibly that’s the competitors’s getting higher and higher. Who is aware of?”
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After being voted Driver of the Day, in the meantime, Ricciardo was noticed taking his time getting out of the cockpit of his RB in parc ferme, the Australian showing to savour the ultimate moments with the automobile after a gruelling 62-lap race.
Requested what had been going via his thoughts, an emotional Ricciardo replied: “A number of feelings, as a result of – look I’m conscious it might be it, and I feel it’s additionally simply [being] exhausted after the race. So it’s like a flood of many feelings and emotions and exhaustion.
“The cockpit is one thing that I acquired very used to for a few years,” added the veteran of 257 Grand Prix begins, tearing up. “I simply needed to savour the second.”