Horner pleased with Ricciardo's return: 'It was really impressive'

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is extremely pleased with Daniel Ricciardo 's return to Formula 1. Red Bull is stationing the good-humoured Australian for six months at sister team AlphaTauri, where he replaces Nyck de Vries, who has been sacked.

Horner is happy to see his old pupil back in the king class:"It is great to see Daniel hasn’t lost any form while away from racing." The 34-year-old driver covered a tyre test for Red Bull earlier on Tuesday. Ricciardo impressed:"His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive." According to the Briton, the progress he had made in the simulator was reflected on the tarmac.

It probably earned the Perth man a seat:"we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri." It was already known that Christian Horner was not a fan of his predecessor, Nyck de Vries. Helmut Marko earlier stated that Horner 'seemed to have been right' when he was against the Dutchman's arrival.

Ricciardo previously drove for Toro Rosso, and Red Bull, now AlphaTauri. At the main team, he was first teammate of Sebastian Vettel and then Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen. After the latter's rise, Ricciardo sought refuge elsewhere. Via Renault and McLaren, he now returns to AlphaTauri.