The 34-year-old driver was greeted with a big hug from team principal Franz Tost on Friday ... and the front door featured a massive honey pot as a nod to his "honey badger" nickname.

The entire AlphaTauri team was waiting for the man of the hour as he made his way through headquarters ... and erupted in applause and cheers as he addressed the crowd.

Ricciardo even gave a speech ... thanking everyone for the warm welcome.

It's been a long time since Ricciardo -- who has raced for teams like Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri), Red Bull, Renault and McLaren -- has been back in the building ... but it's safe to say they made him feel like he never left.

Of course, Ricciardo's return to Red Bull's sister team comes as the team decided to move on from first-year driver Nyck de Vries ... who didn't meet expectations 10 races into the season.

Ricciardo previously said he was looking forward to taking the full year off ... but was turning heads with his testing laps this past weekend at Silverstone.

But, Danny is beloved in the F1 community ... so it goes without saying fans can't wait to check him out at the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.