11 July 2023 , 18:48
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Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull chiefs impressed by his pace in his first Formula 1 outing since losing his place on the grid.
The Aussie has been a reserve driver so far this season having lost his McLaren place last year. However, that will no longer be the case now that he has been loaned out to sister team AlphaTauri to replace Nyck de Vries.
Regardless of that move, though, he was always due to get his first slice of real-life action in an F1 car on Tuesday, as he took part in an official Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone.
While that was the official point of the test, it was also framed as something of an audition. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner made it clear at the weekend that he wanted to see where Ricciardo's current pace stands.
There were plenty of people taking an interest in his performance. Horner was there and AlphaTauri chiefs would no doubt have been keeping a close eye, while Sebastian Vettel even turned up to give his old team-mate some support.
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His performance is not directly comparable to lap times from the British Grand Prix last weekend. That's because the weather and track temperatures were different when Ricciardo took to the track on Tuesday – as were the tyres he was using.
Ricciardo was testing harder compounds developed by Pirelli as part of the plan to outlaw tyre blankets from F1. The idea is that they generate their own heat much quicker than the current tyres used in the world championship.
That is likely the reason why Ricciardo did have one mishap – he was caught on camera spinning the RB19 in a clip which was posted on social media. But more impressive was his best lap time, a 1:27.415, which was just seven-tenths off the time which secured pole position for Max Verstappen at the weekend.
Ricciardo has replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri (Getty Images)Meanwhile, reporter Lawrence Barretto, who writes for the official F1 website, said: "Sources say Ricciardo was impressive in today's Pirelli tyre test with Red Bull, his first drive in 2023 machinery, and that his best lap would have been good enough for the front row of the grid in Sunday's British Grand Prix."
A Red Bull spokesperson did not go into detail about the results of Ricciardo's test, but did tell Mirror Sport that he had put in "a strong performance". And Horner seemed enthused about what he had seen from the Aussie.
"It is great to see Daniel hasn't lost any form while away from racing and that the strides he has been making in his SIM sessions translate on track," he said. "His times during the tyre test were extremely competitive. It was a very impressive drive and we are excited to see what the rest of the season brings for Daniel on loan at Scuderia AlphaTauri."