The Australian was released from his contract with McLaren after three disappointing seasons and news the team had signed exciting young driver Oscar Piastri - interestingly also Australian.
That left him without a drive in F1 for the 2023 season and not a lot of options, hence the reason he made the call to go back to Red Bull as a reserve driver rather than leave Formula 1 altogether.
With Ricciardo having left Red Bull for what was then Renault in 2019, many feel like him going back as a reserve driver is proof he made the wrong decision and that he is going back with his tail between his legs.
"Obviously at the time I felt like it was right for me. I felt like I needed a change and I needed to kind of just remove myself a bit," he said.
"If I continued [with Red Bull], would that urge have grown? Would I have become, let's say, more curious or less happy, or whatever?
"It's not a sure thing that it would have been great if I stayed. I don't look back and say, 'man, I shouldn't have [left]'. But of course, I can be honest with myself and say, 'yeah, I took a little bit of a gamble on myself'."