Ricciardo was last on the road at Austin, crossing the line 17th before gaining two places after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified for running with overly worn floors.
It marked his first event back since August, the Australian having endured a five-round spell on the sidelines while he recovered from breaking a metacarpal in his left hand during a free practice crash at Zandvoort.
Ricciardo reckoned it was his fitness rather than hand - which felt OK out of the blocks in FP1 - that was weakest, meaning he had “no excuse” for a “pretty miserable” race made up mostly of “misfortune”.
PLUS: United States Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023
He said: “I actually felt probably worse [after the Saturday sprint race]… so maybe that was just a good little good warm up for me. There's positives.
“The hand is no excuse. I think that was good. We did well with the timing of the return to have no hesitations or excuses.
“Physically, it's definitely a tougher race. I still felt OK, we were just limited with damage.”
Ricciardo’s final stint was significantly hampered by running over debris that damaged his brake duct to result in a loss of aerodynamic load and balance. That left him to suggest retiring the car altogether.
Source: Autosport