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Red Bull boss Christian Horner took a dig at McLaren CEO Zak Brown over his handling of Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian joined McLaren as the lead driver in 2021 but after spending two years unable to understand the car, he was released from his contract.
With Ricciardo not getting a seat for 2023, he opted to take on the role of reserve driver with his old team Red Bull.
When Horner was questioned over how ready Ricciardo was to get back to racing, the Red Bull boss joked that the Australian came back too skinny from McLaren followed by a quip "I don't know what you guys did to him!"
Answering a question over how ready Ricciardo was to return to action, Horner said:
"I'd say he’s about 10 minutes away from being ready. He's in good shape. He's kept himself fit and well. We've had to feed him up a bit. I don't know what you guys did to him! He came back looking a bit skinny, but he's looking healthier now. I think that he's training hard and he's ready to go given the chance."
Horner admitted it was nice to have Ricciardo back at Red Bull. He said:
"It's great to have him back in blue and be back in the team. This is the first Grand Prix he’s attending this year, and he's really throwing himself into it. Sitting in all the briefings, he's been working hard on the simulator as well in the UK doing some race support and some development work on that."
Great to see Daniel Ricciardo getting his mojo back: Horner
Horner said that having Ricciardo around was such a positive experience. He also touched on how the Australian was slowly getting his mojo back with Red Bull. Horner said:
And Daniel's just a positive energy to have around and it's great to see him getting his mojo back, to see that big smile on his face and he lights up a room when he walks in. His popularity in Formula 1, even though he's not driving he's still probably the most popular driver here. And for us, it’s just positive to have him in the team, contributing to the team, to the drivers, to the engineering team.
Ricciardo's future is still up in the air and there hasn't been any movement in the driver market. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before his immediate future gets decided. It will be interesting to see if the Aussie finds a way back in F1 after a sabbatical.
