Daniel Ricciardo Reveals Who Made Him Find Form To Make AlphaTauri Return After Harsh McLaren Slump

Sabyasachi Biswas | 03/10/2023
Daniel Ricciardo Reveals Who Made Him Find Form To Make AlphaTauri Return After Harsh McLaren Slump

After a disappointing two-year stint, Daniel Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren ahead of the 2023 season. His low confidence resulted in poor results on track, which didn’t seem to improve with time. However, having moved on, Ricciardo recently revealed the name of the man who put him out of his slump, as per Goodwood.

The Honey Badger had a great start to his F1 career after he arrived in the Red Bull fraternity [first Toro Rosso and then Red Bull.] However, in search of a new challenge, he went to Renault, and then McLaren. Both moves turned out to be huge failures, with the latter shattering his confidence and putting him a hiatus.

After his McLaren exit for which he is now thankful, Ricciardo made his return to Red Bull and now driving for AlphaTauri. From getting thrown out of a team to being good enough to be selected, self-confidence has worked like a gem for the 34-year-old. Now, Ricciardo reveals the name of the man who helped him get back to form.

Daniel Ricciardo unraveled the man who helped him gain form

Ricciardo made his return to F1 after being away from the sport for eight months. For this opportunity, he is thankful to Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner. Horner and Ricciardo share a very old relationship, with Horner being his boss for the entirety of his first Red Bull stint.

The Australian driver credited Horner for instilling the confidence in him. It allowed him to work his way back to getting a full-time F1 seat again. Despite suffering a potentially season ending injury last month, Horner and Co. show confidence in Ricciardo. The Perth-born driver will have a seat at AlphaTauri for 2024 too.

Talking about this, he said as per Goodwood.com, “A lot of people probably lost a little bit of faith in me over the last couple of years. But I felt like the things he [Christian Horner] was doing to make me comfortable, setting me up with (his old race engineer) Simon (Rennie), he still believes I can do it, and he just wants to see it.”

What were Christian Horner and Helmut Marko’s thoughts on Ricciardo?

As Daniel Ricciardo already mentioned the role Horner played in his life, the latter also shared his thoughts on the former McLaren driver. He said that Ricciardo picked a lot of “bad habits” when he was away from Red Bull.

Therefore, the old engineering team made the Honey Badger unpick those habits. Even taskmaster Helmut Marko agrees with the British boss when it comes to Ricciardo.

All in all, given how magnificent the 34-year-old has been for AlphaTauri since his return to the team, there are chances that he might be given the chance to replace Sergio Perez in Red Bull. However, for this, the Mexican driver

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Christian Horner Daniel Ricciardo

About the author

Avatar photo

Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

Don’t miss these