Daniel Ricciardo was in all sorts of trouble at the end of the summer break last year. He was ousted by McLaren and publicly announced his exit just weeks after confirming his future with the team. Red Bull and Christian Horner took the Aussie in and he has got his mojo back. After Nyck de Vries’ unceremonious exit from F1, he got the vacant seat at Alpha Tauri. How did they go?
A Strong Return to F1
Yuki Tsunoda absolutely dominated Nyck de Vries in the 10 races they had. Therefore, Daniel Ricciardo shocked everyone by out-qualifying him in Hungary on his comeback. An impressive performance in the race followed. Daniel finished in P13 in that Alpha Tauri, despite being tagged at the start of the race.
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In Belgium, he out-qualified Tsunoda for the Sprint race again. A deleted lap time in the qualifying for the main race meant he didn’t reach Q2 there. The Aussie had a tough race in Belgium as the team struggled to put him in clear air like they did in Hungary. This meant he couldn’t string together a decent set of laps. Meanwhile, Yuki put in a gallant performance and bagged points with a 10th-place finish.
Horner happy with his return
Christian Horner is very happy with the Aussie’s return to the sport. He was already happy with Daniel Ricciardo getting rid of his ‘bad habits’ from his time at McLaren. He said the Silverstone tyre test raised their expectations of him. Daniel was able to meet all of those expectations, which pleased Horner. He believes Daniel’s experience will certainly help the team.
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Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo is relieved to have got two races under his belt before the summer break. He mentioned how 9 days before the F1 summer break, he hadn’t once driven the car. Therefore, having these 2 races gives him some perspective to work with.
Can Daniel make a comeback to Red Bull? Or will Yuki outperform him for the rest of the season? Keep following us to find out.
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