Ahead of his return to the grid, Daniel Ricciardo says he has fallen in love with the sport again.

Dropped by McLaren at the end of last year, and with only Haas appearing to want him, reduced to watch from the side-lines the popular Australian was forced to take a test and reserve role with his old team Red Bull.

However, with Nyck de Vries failing to live up to expectations - see what we did there - Ricciardo is back on the grid and claiming that he is feeling better than ever.

"I feel like I've been myself again," he told reporters in Hungary. "I've had enough time off to, let's say reset, but also just kind of enjoy it again.

"I already felt that on the simulator so far this year, but then also that's why I wanted to drive the car and really make sure that it's still obviously truly what I love doing most. And yeah, I was up to speed really quick and it felt so good again. Testing the Red Bull got me pretty excited.

"I just got in it and I drove," he said of last week's test at Silverstone, which was to seal the fate of Nyck de Vries after just 11 laps according to Christian Horner. "I didn't really think about anything. I just drove and had fun. The times were good and I was competitive.

"There's going to be a lot to learn," he admits, "but I'm not going to solve everything this weekend so it's really just about focusing on using things I do well. Everything I felt driving the car last week is how I want to go racing again. I just want to be in the moment, enjoying it, not thinking too far ahead."

In many ways Ricciardo's return to AlphaTauri sees the Australian go full circle, however it remains to be seen if he will complete the circle by progressing to the 'big team' again.

"I knew everything that happened the last few years, and taking some time off, it would be very hard to go back in at the top," he said. "Of course that was my wish but I think also you need to be realistic at some point and say: 'OK, if I want to get back to, say, a Red Bull seat, then it's going to take a bit of a process and a path'. This for me is the best path at the moment."

Speaking of the immediate task in hand, he said: "I know the car will have limitations and I'm sure it's not going to feel as good as the car I drove a week ago. But I'll just work with that.

"I drove it on the sim last week, and it seemed OK. I think it was a solid day on the sim. It will be a car I have to work at but I don't see the pessimistic point of view, it's just an opportunity for me."

Speaking of his time out of the pressure cooker that is an F1 seat, he said: "I've enjoyed this year in general. It has been a lot of fun being back in the Red Bull family and it gave me some time away that was definitely needed.

"I expected the year off. I haven't had the whole year but I had enough time that fuelled me and energised me.

"This, for me, is the best path at the moment," he added. "Six months ago, I probably wasn't in a place to jump on an opportunity like this but that's been the luxury of time now where I've just felt so much more... I guess I've fallen in love with it again. I feel like I've been myself again, probably back as well in an environment that just gives me a lot of nostalgia; I spent a lot of my career here and a lot of my journey and I kind of my junior days were here.

"So talking to Helmut again more regularly, it feels like it's where I belong. So when the opportunity came, I thought 'absolutely, let's try'."

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