After losing his McLaren drive to Oscar Piastri, the Australian is making his F1 race return at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix as a replacement for the axed Nyck de Vries.
Although he is excited about his comeback at the team he last raced for in its Toro Rosso guise in 2013, he is mindful that the AlphaTauri is the slowest car on the grid with the Faenza squad firmly at the bottom of the constructors' championship standings.
Worse is the fact that its AT04 car is known to have had a weakness throughout the season on corner entry, an area where Ricciardo particularly struggled during his two years at McLaren.
That could set up a scenario where Ricciardo finds himself battling the same issues that he came unstuck with the last time he was competing.
Asked by Autosport at the Hungaroring on Thursday if this particular aspect of the AlphaTauri car was a concern, Ricciardo felt he was in a better position to manage it than he was at McLaren.
"I think what hurt me the last couple of years was that I started probably just falling into a little bit of a trap where 'Oh, yeah, this car doesn't suit me. I need to work around this and this'," he said.
"You can probably be your own worst enemy as well. I kind of go back to my first qualifying with McLaren, I did a great quali. And that was when I kind of didn't know so much yet.
"So, I'm not really thinking too much. I know the car will have limitations and I'm sure it's not going to feel as good as the car [the Red Bull] I drove a week ago. But I'll just work with that.
"I drove it on the sim last week, and it seemed okay. I think it was a solid day on the sim. We obviously need to see if that translates but yeah, ask me tomorrow once I've driven it."
Source: Autosport