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Red Bull chief Christian Horner believes Daniel Ricciardo had never lost his form despite the lack of competitiveness in the last two years of his career. The Briton felt being away from F1 for six months hadn’t made the Australian driver any worse.
Speaking after the Silverstone Pirelli test, the Red Bull CEO said:
“It was great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in his sim sessions translates on track. His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri.”
Praising Daniel Ricciardo and his Pirelli test performance, Horner believes the Australian had never lost his form. It is speculated by Formula 1’s official channel that the former Red Bull driver’s test times were good enough to put him on the front row of the Silverstone grid.
The performance was good enough to replace Nyck De Vries mid-season, with more than half a calendar left. Although the eight-time GP winner returns to his debut team AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso), the 34-year-old has made progress over the last six months to regain his mojo in the Red Bull camp.
Daniel Ricciardo tested the 2024 Pirelli tyres on the RB19 and was also accompanied by Horner and former teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Max Verstappen praises Daniel Ricciardo for his impressive job as a development driver
Praising Daniel Ricciardo for the stellar job done at the simulator in Milton Keynes, Max Verstappen was unsurprised with the performance. The double champion felt the Australian was always talented despite his dismal performances at McLaren in 2022.
The Dutchman believes his former teammate was always a talent to reckon with and has had a good reset at his home team.
Speaking to the on-site media in Silverstone, the reigning champion said:
“He's doing a good job in the simulator. But you know, that's not something I'm amazed about. Of course, he had difficult years at McLaren, but you don't lose your talent. And, of course, he also has a lot of experience. I think he also just feels very comfortable with us at the moment.
"He says so himself, and that he took a bit of a step back to reset himself. In the end, he just feels at home in our team. Of course, he has been with this team long enough. He is now in the simulator and listens very well to what we are saying. He also asks a lot. I know Daniel very well, so we can talk about a lot of things. I can ask him if he wants to test something for me on the simulator or what his opinion is on a particular thing, future parts, all that kind of stuff.”
The former Red Bull driver was the only racer to beat the Dutchman fair and square, making it the closest Red Bull pairing so far. Both matched each other closely from the 2016 to 2018 season. The Australian’s fairy tale return to the grid is also pressuring Sergio Perez about his future at Red Bull.
