Horner: Ricciardo justifying reason for F1 return

Christian Horner believes Daniel Ricciardo’s performance in the Mexico City Grand Prix was proof that Red Bull was fully justified in recalling the Australian back to F1.

Ricciardo delivered a remarkable drive at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, initially splitting Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez by finishing fourth in qualifying in his AlphaTauri.

Ricciardo’s pace in the race underlined the fact his one-lap display was no fluke, with the 34-year-old keeping Lewis Hamilton at bay in his Mercedes early on as he tried to hold on to fourth position.

After Hamilton eventually made his way past, Ricciardo looked secure in fifth, and would almost certainly have finished there but for a red-flag period following Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s heavy crash.

Ricciardo eventually crossed the line seventh for AlphaTauri’s best result of the season, and with the six points lifting the team from the foot of the constructors’ championship up to eighth.

Horner was left in no doubt that Ricciardo “fully endorsed the reason why we’ve brought him back into AlphaTauri just prior to the summer break”, and that, more pertinently, he “looked a lot like the Daniel of old”.

Ricciardo has very quickly found comfort in the AT04, and but for his crash in practice for the Dutch GP in late August that ruled him out for the following five races, it is highly likely the ‘Daniel of old’ would have been seen far sooner.

Ricciardo himself stated after qualifying that just before his crash at Zandvoort he was beginning to feel at ease with the car.

Although his comeback from injury in the United States GP did not go as well as he had hoped, his performance in Mexico City was eye-opening, with his P4 in qualifying even surprising Horner.

“Look at the delta to Max, as well,” remarked Horner. “It was a tenth (of a second), so a remarkable performance by him.”

After two tortuous years with McLaren, bar the anomaly of his Italian GP triumph in 2021, Ricciardo has seemingly rediscovered his mojo.

McLaren tried and failed to work with Ricciardo’s unique driving style, with that period now appearing to be an aberration.

Horner, though, stated: “I think that’s a bit of a fallacy.

“Sport is as much in the head as it is anywhere else, and I think he’s back to his old self.

“You can see he’s relaxed, he’s confident. He came into the weekend fully motivated after a tricky Austin.

“Coming back from injury, I thought he did a great job.”

Ricciardo is certainly helping to turn around AlphaTauri’s season which lasted just 10 races for Nyck de Vries prior to his sacking.

“He just brings them (AlphaTauri) a bunch of experience,” said Horner.

“They had two inexperienced drivers in the car, and he’s just put a bit of direction into their engineering, and they’re benefiting from that.

“He has that experience, and that’s what he brings.”