Daniel Ricciardo is “ready to go” at Red Bull as team boss Christian Horner reveals progress in the simulator.
The eight-time Formula 1 race winner returned “home” to the team he famously left back in 2018, taking up a third driver role for this year.
This after Ricciardo agreed to end his contract at McLaren one year early following two tumultuous seasons, albeit highlighted by a victory at Monza in 2021.
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And speaking at the recent Australian Grand Prix, where Ricciardo was in attendance, Red Bull boss Horner admitted those two years had had a noticeable impact on his former driver.
“I think the problem is when you drive a car that obviously has its limitations, you adapt and you try and adjust to extract the maximum out of that car,” he said.
“And it was clear when he [Ricciardo] came back, that he picked up some habits that were not… that we didn’t recognise as the Daniel that had left us two or three years earlier.
“But having had time off and a chance to reset, when he’s come back and got into the 2023 work, he’s hit the ground running and I think he likes the feel of the car in the virtual world which seems to correlate well with what we’re seeing in the actual world.
“And I think he’s desperate to get a run in the car at some point to validate that, but we’re certainly seeing him getting back to being far more reminiscent of the Daniel that we knew.”
Asked then how long it would be before Ricciardo could potentially race for Red Bull, Horner’s reply was pretty stark.
“I’d say he’s about 10 minutes away from being ready,” he stated.
“We’ve had to feed him up a bit, I don’t know what you guys did to him!” Horner added, turning to McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
“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.”