F1 News
Possible return of Ricciardo: 'He has found his mojo again'
Rumours have been circulating for some time that Daniel Ricciardo might return to a seat within Formula 1. Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team boss, answers questions about those rumours at the FIA press conference during the race weekend in Austria.
"It's still very early days for next year," said the team boss. A seat at Red Bull may not be in the cards for Ricciardo next year. This is because Sergio Perez still has a contract until 2024 . Max Verstappen even remains with the team until 2028. Since AlphaTauri works with Red Bull, for most people the links were quickly made.
Although Nyck de Vries has a contract for this and next year, it is uncertain whether he will stay. His performance has been disappointing this season, and that while Ricciardo appears to be doing well in the sim. "He's been working hard on the simulator. He's now extremely competitive in what he's doing in the virtual world. So whether that crosses over into the real world, we'll see", said the Briton. Which seat he would then take over is not yet clear. Indeed, Yuki Tsunoda has not yet signed a contract for upcoming seasons this season.
Ricciardo has got his strength back
After Ricciardo was told he would no longer get a seat in 2023 after disappointing results at McLaren, Ricciardo looked very different to how he looks now on his return to Red Bull. According to Horner, the Australian is looking forward to it again and with good results he could return to the track in no time. "He's obviously a world class driver. He's won eight Grands Prix in his career to date. So I think the first thing will be to see how he performs and where his motivation is. Then from there it's a question for Alfa Tauri as to their choices for the following season", said Horner
When Ricciardo walked into Red Bull's door after the 2022 season, Horner says he could hardly recognise him: "When he first arrived after Abu Dhabi last year, it was a little bit of a shock because we didn't really recognise him from the driver that had left us a few years earlier. But he seems to have re-found his mojo"
According to the team boss, whether he would really perform well on track again will have to be seen from the tyre test: "We'll get an impression as to the level that he's performing at. But certainly, you can see that there's a spring coming back in his step". For now, Ricciardo is busy with the sim. " He has thrown himself into that and given very valuable feedback," said the Briton.