“He’s enjoying it again”: Horner on Ricciardo’s comeback
The team manager of Red Bull, Christian Horner, recently commented on the case of Daniel Ricciardo, who has recently returned to the wheel of an F1 car. After a difficult period, the Briton feels a "Danny" who has found his way back.
5 years after leaving it, Daniel Ricciardo is back in the Red Bull fold after being ousted from McLaren. A few months as a reserve for the Austrian team, then the eight-time Grand Prix winner took advantage of Nyck de Vries’ misfortune and regained his place at the Red Bull sister team, AlphaTauri.
If years have passed, Red Bull manager Christian Horner recently revisited this separation and expressed his satisfaction with the Australian’s return, also stating that the two men had the opportunity to discuss it. « We cannot go back. And in life, it happens that we make decisions that, a few years later, make us regret not taking a different path. »
After leaving the Milton Keynes stable, which had evolved around the prodigy Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo spent two years at Renault before joining McLaren, with whom he won once in 2021 (Monza). But the story with the English stable ended badly, losing all his duels against Lando Norris: He was dismissed last year at the end of a failed season, his first outside the top 10 in the world championship since 2014 and despite a contract that ran until the end of 2023.
A Rediscovered Ricciardo, Back to His Best?
« Daniel, these last two years, wasn’t really the same as the one who was with us in previous years,” said Horner. As a result, the 34-year-old driver wanted to step away from the circuits and began the season back in the team that had brought him success, supporting Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. It was a return that pleased the team boss, happy to see the Ricciardo he had known again. “« By bringing him back into the Red Bull fold, we had to rebuild him and get rid of some bad habits he had developed. We gradually saw his performances improve more and more in the virtual world, becoming stronger and stronger to match the race drivers,” Horner rejoiced.
Since his return with AlphaTauri at the end of July, the Perth native has managed to keep up with his teammate Tsunoda and went into the summer break on a positive note, although his Belgian weekend was more challenging.
“« It looks like he’s enjoying life again. He’s finding pleasure in driving again. It will be fascinating to see how he performs in the second half of the season. », Christian Horner concluded.”
