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Daniel Ricciardo is making a return to F1 this weekend and everyone is keenly interested to see what he will be able to accomplish. The driver's two seasons in McLaren dealt a massive blow to the perception around him as he was relieved of his duties and replaced a year early by Oscar Piastri.
Since then, Ricciardo has been a Red Bull reserve driver. He's not only taken on a lot of marketing activities for the team but he's also been a prominent presence in the simulator. With him getting a seat in AlphaTauri and a carrot of a future seat in the senior team angling in front of him, Ricciardo is in a peculiar position.
As a driver, Daniel Ricciardo is now trying to restart his career after plunging from the magnificent heights he enjoyed and was forced to leave the sport. He's trying to do what only very few drivers in F1 have done in the past and if he is able to accomplish it, he will be in an elite company.
In this feature, we're taking a look at three other drivers that Daniel Ricciardo will be trying to emulate on his return to F1.
#1 Niki Lauda
The new fans might not remember but Niki Lauda's career could be divided into two parts. The first was him making his way to the top with Ferrari, winning two titles with the Italian brand before falling out with the team.
After falling out with Ferrari in 1977, Lauda moved to Brabham where he spent two years in an uncompetitive car. Not being able to drive a piece of more competitive machinery and the enticing Lauda Airways business interests meant Niki Lauda left the sport at the end of 1979 to try his hand at business.
After three years away from the sport, Lauda came back with McLaren in 1982 and won the title in 1984 with teammate Alain Prost, a young fast charger who finished half a point behind him.
Just like Lauda, Daniel Ricciardo will be hoping to get back to the top just like he did with Red Bull in his previous innings.
#2 Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen was going to be the next superstar in F1 after Michael Schumacher retired.
In 2007, the year after the German left the sport, Raikkonen won the driver's title. Soon after though, things took a turn for the worse for the Finnish driver. The 2008 F1 season saw a drop in the level at which he was used to performing. After dropping the title in 2008 and driving around in an uncompetitive Ferrari in 2009, Raikkonen took a sabbatical from the sport.
He had the option to go back to McLaren in 2010 but he opted against it. What was, however, striking about Raikkonen was his return to the sport. He came back to F1 an even bigger star with Lotus. The driver had a stunning return on track as he ended his first season back finishing P3 in the 2012 F1 championship.
After almost taking Lotus to the brink of bankruptcy in 2013 (due to a massive lucrative contract based on points scored over a season), Raikkonen, a driver who was fired by Ferrari in 2009 was signed back on a massively lucrative contract.
When it comes to emulating someone, Daniel Ricciardo will be looking at Kimi Raikkonen on how he turned everything around after getting pushed into a sabbatical from the sport.
#3 Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso might have Daniel Ricciardo to thank for his return to F1 because if it was not for the Australian leaving Renault, the Spaniard might not have found the way back.
Alonso is one driver whose driving standards have remarkably not dropped for over two decades of racing. The driver was an elite presence on the grid in 2003 and he's still the same two decades later.
Having said that, what Daniel Ricciardo would find truly inspirational as he looks up to Fernando is how the Spaniard's perseverance and methodical approach brought him back to F1 in 2021 and slotted him as a frontrunner in 2023. Alonso was disgruntled and almost dissuaded by the sport in 2018 when he announced a sabbatical from the sport.
He's come back with a vengeance to show what he can still do in an F1 car and that has truly helped him get back into a frontrunning car.
For Daniel Ricciardo, there cannot be a bigger inspiration and example of comebacks in an F1 career than Alonso and he will be hoping to emulate that when he gets back into the car.
