Daniel Ricciardo left his engineer “quietly impressed” when he performed a Pirelli tyre test with Red Bull in the days following the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
That test has been credited as a key moment in Ricciardo’s F1 comeback after returning to Milton Keynes as third driver at the start of the year.
Immediately following that outing, Nyck de Vries was relieved of his duties at AlphaTauri, and Ricciardo confirmed as his replacement.
“You couldn’t really tell that he hadn’t been in a car for eight months,” said Simon Rennie, who was watching over the Silverstone test.
“The first run, or maybe on the first installation lap, you were reminded how quick the cars were, but after that, it was within a few laps…
“It was just like, well, it’s like you’d driven the car last week, not last year.
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“That was quite…I don’t know if you were surprised about that, but I was quietly impressed.”
Rennie made his remarks alongside Ricciardo in featuring on the Talking Bull podcast.
The pair had worked together during the Australian’s stint with the team before leaving for Renault at the end of 2018.
They reunited that partnership when Ricciardo took on the reserve driver role, with Rennie now working in Red Bull’s simulator at Milton Keynes.
“I felt like I got up to speed relatively quickly and everything I really wanted to get out of the test, I did,” added Ricciardo.
“Then it was, ‘Alright mate, well you’re going to go racing in less than two weeks’ time at AlphaTauri’.
“That stuff also excites me, you know. That’s just Red Bull, that’s how they operate.
“It reminds me of how it was when I was a junior driver.
“My first ever F1 race, I got a call from Helmut [Marko, Red Bull motorsport advisor] a week before the race, and even then I wasn’t expecting it to be with HRT.
“That’s just how it is, and it certainly makes you feel game and ready and alive.”
Ricciardo is currently sidelined with a broken hand, sustained during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.
His seat is being filled in the interim by Liam Lawson, with the Qatar Grand Prix marking Ricciardo’s likely return.
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