Christian Horner on Daniel Ricciardo: ‘I don’t recognise him as the same driver he was'
Ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:♋McLaren finally confirmed that Ricciardo would be dropped at the end of t🥂his season, on🌳e year before his contract was due to end.
Ricciardo’s dismissal comes as no surprise with Alpine junior Oscar Piastri waiting to get the green light to join the team after 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:F1’s ‘silly season’ kicked into gear during the summer break.
He spent five years with R💜ed Bull, securing seven victories, with a best finish of third in the drivers’ championship in 2014 and 2016.
When asked about Ricciardo’s situation, Horner admitte꧑d that he doesn’t “recognise him as ✃the same driver as he was when he was with us”.
“It’s just very sad,” Horner said after FP2 at Spa. “I am not close to itꦰ. I have spoken to Daniel a little bit but I don’t recognise him as the same driver as he was when he was with us. He’s one of the best guys out there.
“He’s definitely got that capability. I hope🦩 he finds a seat in F1, I hope he finds his mojo because if you think back to some of the races he drove for us, winning Monaco with 50% of the power [in 2018], he put in some amazing performances and you have to think when he was alongside Seb [Vettel in 2014], when he first came into the team, how he delivered, how close he was with Max as well.
“Tough for him but I really hope he find🐠s somethin♓g for the future.”
Horner believes Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren has resulted in his ‘confide💖nce being zapped’ and his bubbly, smiley personality💞 has been affected.
“We saw how close those guys were [in 2016-2018]. Max has evolved since Daniel left the team🌺 but Daniel, on his day, he was right 🔯there. He put in some amazing performances. We were sad to see him leave the team and his confidence has been zapped.
“We’re used to seeing him on the podium doing shoeys, messing around with that smile but we don’t see any of that anymore. I hope that he finds an opportunity to furtherꩲ his career because I꧂ think F1 is better off having him in this championship than not.”
Ricciardo is꧟ currently without a drive for next year but has be🃏en linked with a return to Alpine, as well as Haas and Williams.
With a sharp eye for Fཧ1’s co🍬ntroversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
