Ricciardo impresses Red Bull boss Horner with AlphaTauri impact

Cal Gaunt
Monday 6 November 2023 21:57

Christian Horner has addressed the off-track impact of Daniel Riccardio's mid-season move into the Red Bull fold with AlphaTauri.

Initially, Ricciardo did not have a seat for the 2023 season but was drafted in to replace Nyck de Vries in July.

AlphaTauri had only scored two points prior to the veteran Australian's arrival. Since then, Ricciardo, his stand-in Liam Lawson and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda have added a further 17 points to the team's tally.

Despite being replaced by Lawson for five races after a hand injury suffered at Zandvoort, Red Bull team principal Horner believes AlphaTauri have benefited from Ricciardo's F1 experience.

Horner: Ricciardo gave AlphaTauri direction

“It’s great to see," said Horner to Sky Sports F1.

"They’ve had a tough earlier part of the year. They’ve brought in some upgrades and I think from around Singapore, they’ve really started to bring their car alive.

"I think Daniel’s put some good engineering direction in there as well and you can see they’re benefiting from that.

"Yuki drove a strong race today [Brazil sprint] and good to see him scoring valuable points.”

With AlphaTauri now boasting a five-point cushion over constructors' standing rivals Alfa Romeo, the Italian team will be looking to up the table to try and reel in Williams, who are seven points ahead of them.

READ MORE: Ricciardo set to earn millions after seat decision