Ricciardo had stepped away from a full-time race seat following the 2022 season, after he and McLaren agreed to half firm within the wake of a irritating two years.
Whereas the Australian had initially thought of shifting to a different group, he in the end felt a yr serving to out as Pink Bull’s third driver could be a greater guess for him.
Pink Bull plans to utilize Ricciardo for each reserve and testing duties all through 2023, and thus put him in its simulator to get him again on top of things with the most recent automobile developments.
However, having noticed his driving, Pink Bull has revealed that Ricciardo had picked up some unhealthy habits in his time away from the squad at Renault and McLaren.
Pink Bull group principal Christian Horner stated: “I feel the issue is once you drive a automobile that clearly has its limitations, you adapt, and also you attempt to alter to extract the utmost out of that automobile.
“It was clear when he got here again that he had picked up some habits that we did not recognise because the Daniel that had left us two or three years earlier.
“However having had day off over Christmas and so forth, and an opportunity to reset, when he is come again and received into the 2023 work, he is hit the bottom working. I feel he likes the texture of the automobile within the digital world, which appears to correlate effectively with what we’re seeing within the precise world.
He might not have a race drive this yr, however being again within the Pink Bull household has introduced Ricciardo some enjoyable gigs of late.
Photograph by: Pink Bull Content material Pool
“I feel he is determined to get a run within the automobile in some unspecified time in the future to validate that, however we’re actually seeing him getting again to being way more harking back to the Daniel that we knew.”
Ricciardo is attending his first grand prix of the season in Australia this weekend and is entrenching himself as a lot as wanted contained in the Pink Bull squad.
Horner added: “He is actually throwing himself into it. He is been sitting in all of the briefings, he is been working onerous on the simulator as effectively within the UK doing a little race assist and a few growth work on that.
“Daniel’s only a optimistic vitality to have round and it is nice to see him getting his mojo again, to see that large smile on his face. He lights up a room when he walks in.
“Hopefully, he’ll rediscover his love for the game. He’ll do a little bit of testing for us later within the yr and we’ll see how that goes for him. However I feel it is a completely different expertise.
“It should be very robust for him not being a race driver this weekend, however he is thrown himself in and is embracing this new function.”
