Red Bull Chief On Daniel Ricciardo: "Fallen Out Of Love With Formula 1"
Red Bull chief Christian Horner has admitted that he believes that his new third driver, Daniel Ricciardo, has "fallen out of love" with F1. This comes after he confirmed the Australian will be the reserve driver for the Austrian team.
Ricciardo has certainly had a hard couple of years driving for McLaren, ending with him being paid a pretty penny to leave the team to be replaced with Oscar Piastri. Fans were incredibly happy to hear that he hadn't left the sport altogether, however, with it soon after being revealed that he'd joined Red Bull as a reserve driver.
But while we'd love to see Ricciardo back on-track in a car worthy of his talents, Horner has admitted that he has "no plans" to use him in any other role that a reserve.
Talking to Speedcafe, he said:
"We certainly have no plans to utilise him other than in that third driver role and to combine with the commercial activities that he will be performing."
He continued to admit that he believes Ricciardo lost his love for the sport after years of fighting:
"I think Daniel had fallen out of love a little bit with Formula 1. He'd had a couple of really tough seasons.
"For him to play a supporting role to race drivers as our third driver, both back in the factory and at events, with all the commercial partners we have, as one of the most recognisable faces currently in and around F1, for us, it made a lot of sense.
"Hopefully in that process, Daniel will rediscover his passion for Formula 1."
Red Bull was good to Ricciardo, with him hammering out 7 of his 8 wins with the bull-adorned machinery. But after a couple of badly timed manoeuvres between teams, the Aussie was left with sub-par cars that saw him in the lower-midfield.
"We were surprised to see Daniel be out on the open market," Horner added.
"For us, [with Ricciardo] having grown up with Red Bull, having nurtured him since being a junior, it made sense for us to bring him back into the fold [as] a driver with so much experience and such a high profile."
Ricciardo may have fallen out of love with F1, but F1 certainly hasn't lost its love for him.