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Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes that after some underwhelming performances over the last two years, Daniel Ricciardo had "fallen out of love" with F1.
Despite picking up a race win for McLaren at the Italian Grand Prix last year, the eight-time race winner had an incredibly difficult campaign with the Woking-based team, especially when compared to his former teammate, Lando Norris.
The team ended their contract with Daniel Ricciardo a year early and later announced that Oscar Piastri would be replacing him at McLaren in 2023. At the end of the season, Red Bull announced that the 33-year-old would be returning to the team next year as a reserve driver.
Speaking at the KTM Summer Grill with Speedcafe.com, Horner claimed that the team was "surprised" to see that Ricciardo would not be on the 2023 F1 grid:
“Well, we were surprised to see Daniel be out on the overall market. So for us, having grown up with Red Bull, having nurtured him since being a junior, it made sense for us to bring him back into the fold. [He’s a driver] with so much experience, at such a high profile, I think Daniel had fallen out of love a little bit with Formula 1.”
“He’s had a couple of really tough seasons, particularly this year. For him to play a supporting role to the race drivers as our third driver, both here in the factory and at events with all commercial partners we have as one of the most recognisable faces currently in F1, for us – it made a lot of sense. Hopefully, in that process, Daniel will rediscover his passion for Formula 1, but we certainly have no plans to utilise him other than in that third driver role, combined with the commercial activities that he’ll be performing.”
Red Bull confirms Daniel Ricciardo's presence at "some races" in the 2023 F1 season
Christian Horner confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will be taking up the role of reserve driver at a few races in the upcoming season, while Red Bull junior Liam Lawson would be the team's official reserve driver for some.
Speaking about Ricciardo's return to the team and the plans for the 2023 season, Horner said:
“Daniel will be attending some races where, obviously, he will be our reserve driver for those events.”
“[Daniel will] probably do a bit of tyre testing for us, not with the Pirelli programme that gets distributed around the teams. He’ll be doing some work in the simulator. So he’ll be doing all of those activities and then, of course, with the commercial demands that we have from the myriad of sponsors and partners that we have, particularly with a much bigger presence in the US where Daniel is now predominantly based, with three Grands Prix there next year, he’s gonna have a busy agenda for the season ahead.”
Daniel Ricciardo finished the 2022 F1 season eleventh in the drivers' championship.
