F1 News: Christian Horner Celebrates Daniel Ricciardo - "Absolutely On The Money"

Horner was very impressed during Daniel Ricciardo's stint of tyre testing for Pirelli.

Returning to Red Bull was not a smooth ride for Daniel Ricciardo, as team chief Christian Horner reveals that the Australian's initial simulator attempt was "a complete disaster".

The once-full-time McLaren driver found himself back with Red Bull as a reserve for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez following a challenging 2022 season with McLaren alongside Lando Norris. 

This unexpected return ultimately unlocked Ricciardo's re-entry to the F1 grid with the Australian now ready to replace Nyck de Vries' seat for the rest of the season, starting at Hungary this weekend.

Horner recounts on the F1 Nation podcast:

“It all kicked off in a hotel room in Mexico last year, I had a meeting with Daniel and it was clear that his options for this year were going to be a bit limited and he just looked pretty broken.

“I said to him why didn’t he come back to Red Bull for 12 months, out of the car predominantly, help us with simulation work, and a bit of tyre testing, and just come back into the fold and refind his passion for the sport.

“Because it was clear that he wasn’t enjoying things. To be honest with you, I didn’t really recognise the Daniel over the last couple of years that we’d grown so used to, he’d grown up with us – so that’s where it started.

“He came in and drove the simulator a couple of days after Abu Dhabi, and it was a complete disaster. He’d picked up every bad habit imaginable. He was working with his previous engineer and gradually we unpicked it.

“With each session, he just got better and better, you could see his confidence growing to the point that he was absolutely on the pace with the race drivers.

“The plan was always to put him in for that Silverstone test. We kept him very busy on off-track activities, marketing-wise, and the test was extremely impressive.”

Continuing, Horner revealed how Ricciardo's stress washed away when he was told how fast he was during tyre testing at Silverstone. 

“I was just pleased to see that he was still able to operate at that level,” Horner admitted.

“I mentioned to him that that would have put him on the front row of the grid, and you could see the relief in his eyes, and almost the pressure release off of his shoulders, that he could still do it and that he wasn’t going mad.

“The old Daniel was still there. And then his long runs were very impressive in the work that he did for Pirelli was absolutely on the money.”