Christian Horner delivers major update on Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull future

Sam Cooper
Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull garage. Melbourne, April 2023.

I’m Christian Horner says Daniel Ricciardo moving back to Red Bull is not something the team is “planning” on doing.

The Australian will hop back into a Red Bull car next week when he takes part in a Pirelli tyre test with it also being an opportunity for the team’s higher ups to assess just how much of the driver that won seven races with Red Bull is still there.

It is the first step for Ricciardo on a journey he hopes will end in a full time seat in 2024 and he recently admitted that to end his career atRed Bull would be “a fairytale”but team boss Horner appears to have written the final chapter.

后他的团队创下纪录-equalling 11th consecutive victory, Horner said a Ricciardo return was certainly not something the team was planning.

“It’s not something that we’re planning, that’s for certain,” Horner told media including PlanetF1.com. “So it was right to give him the opportunity this year to remain within the team and keep him around the sport.

“I think it would have been a loss to the sport for him just to disappear and I think that I didn’t recognise the Daniel of the last couple of years so I’ll be very interested to see what kind of job he does on Tuesday.”

Ricciardo has not driven an F1 car since his last race with McLaren in a portion of his career that ended with him losing his seat a year early.

Horner described the Pirelli test as a chance to see where Ricciardo is at.

“It’s an important test for Pirelli but it’s also going to be great to see him back in a Red Bull car and see what he can do.

“Where he’s at, both on pace and mentally, physically and to get his feedback on this car as well.

“So I think it’s a good opportunity for him to get back behind the wheel of a car that’s just won the British Grand Prix.”

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