Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner derided Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from Red Bull Racing at the end of 2018 was a “silly decision”.
Daniel Ricciardo raced for Red Bull Racing from 2014 to 2018 before leaving the team to join Renault F1. After two unsuccessful years at Renault, Ricciardo moved to McLaren.
However, Daniel Ricciardo will not secure a seat for the 2023 F1 season after failing against Lando Norris for the past two seasons and having his McLaren contract ended a year early. Ricciardo was replaced by 2021 F2 champion Oscar Piastri.
Daniel Ricciardo, 33, is aiming to return to Red Bull as a third driver in 2023 and return to the full-time F1 grid in 2024.
Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from the team at the time came as a surprise to Red Bull, who were offering him a new contract, but now he seems to be laughing.
Christian Horner has joked that Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull was a mistake in the first place.
“Daniel joined us as a teenager and grew up with the team here,” Horner told the Mirror.
“He had great success here, but then he did something stupid and moved to some other teams and it didn’t work out.”
Christian Horner believes Red Bull will give Daniel Ricciardo an environment to “rediscover the joy of being a Formula 1 driver”.
“But Daniel has a great personality and a great character,” Horner added.
“We thought it was right to have him back in the team and obviously promotionally he has the biggest smile in F1.”
As for him, he will be able to have fun again and rediscover the joy of being a Formula 1 driver, rather than the stress of recent years”.
Category: F1 / Red Bull / Daniel Ricardo
