Horner takes note of Ricciardo performance with ‘back to old self’ verdict
After being one of the stars of qualifying by claiming a superb fourth on the grid, outpacing Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, Ricciardo capped off an impressive comeback for AlphaTauri by finishing seventh.
The Australian had been running strongly inside the top-five but an ill-timed red flag hampered Ricciardo, who nevertheless went on to record AlphaTauri’s best result of the season.
Ricciardo, in just his second race since returning from a broken hand that sidelined him for five rounds, caught and almost passed George Russell’s Mercedes in the closing stages.
It marked a timely statement for Ricciardo, who is aiming to reclaim a seat at Red Bull. His performance caught the attention of team principal Christian Horner, who heaped praise on the 34-year-old.
"It is great to see Daniel performing so well and fully endorses the reason why we brought him back into the AlphaTauri," Horner said.
"I thought he was outstanding this weekend, fighting Mercedes in an AlphaTauri - and if it were not for the red flag, he'd have finished higher up, so it was a great performance and certainly looked like the Daniel of old this weekend.
"Look at the time delta to Max, it was less than a tenth so a remarkable performance by him.
"He's back to his old self, you can see he is relaxed, he's confident and he came into the weekend fully motivated after a tricky Austin coming back from injury.
"I thought he did a great job this weekend.”
Ricciardo described the Mexico City Grand Prix as “the weekend I dreamed of”.
Ricciardo’s eye-catching display will only further heap the pressure on Perez, who crashed out of his home race following a first corner tangle with Charles Leclerc.
Perez is under contract for 2024 and Red Bull have repeatedly insisted that his seat is safe.
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