Daniel Ricciardo is a colorful character. And a personality that Formula 1 needs. He’s fast, charming and always sporting a contagious smile. But to think that the Honey Badger lacks any depth would be a grave misconception.

Back in 2018, Daniel Ricciardo was at a crossroads in life. That’s when he penned a piece for The Players’ Tribune. He talked about his decision to ditch Red Bull for Renault and his journey into motorsport. Finally, we saw the philosopher behind the crazy Honey Badger helmets.

In the article, the Australian gave us a prelude to the man he is now. The man we all call the Honey Badger. He wrote, “When I was a boy, I had this big poster of Michael Jordan on my bedroom wall in our home in Perth. It was the famous photo of him at the dunk contest in ’88. He’s mid-flight, just freaking soaring.”

“I looked at that every day before school, like, O.K., you gonna be MJ today? In hindsight, I wasn’t MJ back then — I didn’t have that killer instinct. I mean, I was just a kid.”

“I’ve been cultivating my inner-badger for a long, long time.”

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Ricciardo was faced with a similar crossroads after his McLaren exit. Safe to say, the Australian thought long and hard before deciding to come back home.

Daniel Ricciardo walks us through why he chose Red Bull over Mercedes

Daniel Ricciardo may have tarnished his reputation a bit after that disastrous spell with McLaren. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a sought after man in the Formula 1 paddock. For Ricciardo, it was a simple choice between Mercedes and Red Bull. But why did he decide to return to Milton Keynes after all?

Speaking to the ‘In the Fast Lane‘ podcast, the Honey Badger explained why. He began, “When I was at Red Bull, Mercedes was always ‘the’ team.” However, according to him, “There was something about when the Red Bull thing became more serious it made more and more sense.”

“A bit of familiarity would be good for me, to just go back and work with people I’ve worked with before.”

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Now that he’s back where he belongs, will Daniel Ricciardo get another shot at that coveted Red Bull racing seat?