Red Bull discovered “habits” Ricciardo picked up from other cars’ “limitations” · RaceFans

Daniel Ricciardo has made some telling changes to his driving style during the four years he spent away from Red Bull, according to team principal Christian Horner.

The eight-times grand prix winner has returned to the team he raced for between 2014 and 2018. Ricciardo spent two years at Renault (now Alpine) and two more at McLaren in the interim.

His McLaren spell ended in disappointment, as the team cut short his contract by a year due to poor performance. Ricciardo subsequently agreed to return to Red Bull in a test and reserve driver role and has already returned to work in their simulator.

The Australian driver is attending his country's round of the world championship with the team. "It's great to have him back in blue," said Horner in today's FIA press conference at the track.

"This is the first grand prix he is attending this year," Horner continued. "He's really throwing himself into it, sitting in all the briefings. He's been working hard in the simulator as well in the UK, doing some race support and some development work on that."

Following the tough circumstances of his departure from McLaren, Horner believes Ricciardo is "getting his mojo back" but said his enthusiasm for the sport has taken a knock.

"He lights up a room when he walks in," said Horner. "His popularity in Formula 1 – even though he's not driving, he's still probably the most popular driver here.

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"For us, it's just positive to have him in the team, contributing to the team, to the drivers, to the engineering team. Hopefully he'll rediscover his love for the sport."

"It must be very tough for him not being a race driver this weekend but he's thrown himself in and embracing this new role."

Ricciardo found himself unable to match the performance of team mate Lando Norris during his time at McLaren. Horner said it was clear Ricciardo had tried to adapt his driving to the different cars he had experienced since leaving Red Bull.

"When he first turned up after Abu Dhabi – I think the problem is when you drive a car that obviously has its limitation you adapt and you try and adjust to extract the maximum out of that car. And it was clear when he came back that he picked up some habits that we didn't recognise as the Daniel that had left us two or three years earlier.

"But having had time off over Christmas and so on and a chance to reset when he's come back and got into the 2023 work, he's hit the ground running."

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Ricciardo "likes the feel of the car in the virtual world which seems to correlate well with what we're seeing in the actual world," Horner added.

"He's desperate to get a run in the car at some point to validate that. But we're certainly seeing him getting back to being far more reminiscent of the Daniel that we knew."

While Ricciardo shares reserve duties with two Red Bull junior drivers, Horner believes he's "about 10 minutes away from being ready" to step in should the team need a replacement for Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez. "He's in good shape. He's kept himself fit and well."

Horner jokingly told McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown "we've had to feed him up a bit – I don't know what you guys did to him, but he came back looking a bit skinny.

"But he's looking healthier now. And I think he's training hard and he's ready to go, given the chance."