F1: Christian Horner thinks Alpine should sign Daniel Ricciardo for 2023

Christian Horner has backed Daniel Ricciardo to find a seat in a Formula 1 team for next year and has backed French team Alpine to snap up the Australian. Ricciardo doesn't have a drive for next year at the moment and his options are dwindling fast.

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, host Tom Clarkson asked the Red Bull boss whether he would sign the Australian driver if he was in charge of Alpine. Horner agreed immediately due to the fact that Ricciardo had spent two years at Alpine (then Renault) before joining McLaren.

He replied: “I think I probably would to be honest with you. They obviously knew him from a couple of seasons ago and he was very together during his last season there, scoring podiums, and I think he’s the type of guy that, I think you can rebuild him."

“Unfortunately, he’s been handed his chips,” said the Red Bull boss. “Which is a great shame because I think he’s a big personality and a great driver. He’s obviously lost his way a bit, but it would be great to see him remain in the sport.”

Ricciardo scored two podiums in his time at Alpine and out-scored both his teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in his time there. Ricciardo left Red Bull for Renault in 2019 and had a pretty underwhelming first season, scoring just 54 points, but still managed to beat his teammate Hulkenberg by 17 points.

He had a very good second season with the Enstone-based team, getting two podiums and finishing 5th in the driver's standings with 119 points. But the Australian has struggled since his move from Renault to McLaren in 2021, frequently being out-performed by young teammate Lando Norris.

Horner said that the Honey Badger was excellent in his time at Red Bull, winning Grand Prix's and podiums and that he could rekindle his form at the French team.

“It’s obviously not been a great experience for him [at McLaren] for whatever reason, but you just have to think back to some of the drives that he did for us, some of the wins he had, some of the podiums, some of the stunning overtakes he was capable of… that’s still in there I’m sure, he just needs a bit of a reset.”

Ricciardo has been replaced by fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri at McLaren, with the team buying him out of his contract, which is reportedly worth $21m. There is still a seat up for grabs at Alpine after Fernando Alonso's decision to move to Aston Martin, with Pierre Gasly being strongly linked.

Horner also mentioned that Daniel is too good a driver to not get a seat in Formula and hoped that he would still be on the grid next year.

“Like in all sports, confidence is a big element and for whatever reason he hasn’t got the feeling from the car across two sets of regulations,” added the Briton. That’s probably eked away at his confidence, but there’s still a very capable driver in there and you don’t just forget how to deliver. I hope for him he gets another opportunity and gets himself back on the grid for next year.”