Horner: Ricciardo remarkable in Mexico | Intention to keep Perez

Christian Horner: Daniel Ricciardo performance at Mexico City GP was 'remarkable' and Red Bull 'intend' to keep Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points since his mid-season F1 comeback watch with an impressive showing throughout the Mexico City GP weekend; watch every session of the Sao Paulo GP live on Sky Sports F1, with lights out for Sunday's race at 5pm Last Updated: 30/10/23 4:02pm Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Christian Horner reflects on an eventful Mexico City GP, with Sergio Perez crashing out on the opening lap, Max Verstappen claiming a 16th win of the season and Daniel Ricciardo picking up P7 Christian Horner reflects on an eventful Mexico City GP, with Sergio Perez crashing out on the opening lap, Max Verstappen claiming a 16th win of the season and Daniel Ricciardo picking up P7 Christian Horner has described Daniel Ricciardo's performance on his way to seventh at the Mexico City Grand Prix as "remarkable", and insisted Red Bull intend to keep Sergio Perez for 2024. Ricciardo outqualified Perez on Saturday in Mexico and was running in fifth when the race was stopped for Kevin Magnussen's big crash at the halfway point of the Grand Prix.The Australian was competing in only his fourth full weekend this year after replacing Nyck de Vries ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, before injuring himself during practice in Zandvoort in August. He returned in Austin where he had an underwhelming weekend, but he delivered in Mexico City, and Horner was impressed."It is great to see Daniel performing so well and fully endorses the reason why we brought him back into the AlphaTauri," said Horner."I thought he was outstanding this weekend, fighting Mercedes in an AlphaTauri - and had it not been 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." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Lewis Hamilton passes Daniel Ricciardo down the main straight on the inside to move up to fourth in the Mexico City Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton passes Daniel Ricciardo down the main straight on the inside to move up to fourth in the Mexico City Grand Prix Ricciardo, who has already been confirmed to stay at AlphaTauri for 2024, fought hard against Lewis Hamilton in the early stages of the race and was just half a second behind George Russell at the chequered flag in the battle for sixth.Horner says Ricciardo's confidence is "coming up" and his experience has made in impact at AlphaTauri."You couldn't fail to be impressed by Daniel this weekend. His qualifying was outstanding and he showed his maturity and experience and pace in the race," he told Sky Sports F1."I think fighting a Mercedes in an AlphaTauri for their best result of the year was a great performance. Had it not been for the red flag he might have actually finished even further up."He can take a lot of confidence coming back from injury, he's had a rough time over the last couple of months having to sit on the sidelines but that's the Daniel we're used to seeing." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Daniel Ricciardo says it's 'pretty cool' to qualify fourth for the Mexico City Grand Prix and admits having a lot of cars behind him on the grid is a nice feeling Daniel Ricciardo says it's 'pretty cool' to qualify fourth for the Mexico City Grand Prix and admits having a lot of cars behind him on the grid is a nice feeling Ricciardo added: "A lot of emotions. Relieved as well. Two starts on this track... you hold your breath because it's such a long run to Turn One. The first start we started fourth and came through in fourth, so I was pretty happy, especially when we know we have a bit more drag then others."The second one. When I saw the red flag I knew it would probably hurt our race. We were in fifth and potentially could have finished there. Then starting on the hard with other cars on the medium...just to lose one spot is close to a best case scenario."To fight a Mercedes at the end is a big weekend for us. I'm happy-sad. All in all, it's a good weekend. After last weekend, this was the weekend I dreamed of and we got it."Horner: Intention to keep Perez for 2024 Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sergio Perez reflects on a heart-breaking day for him in Mexico as he suffered a first-lap DNF in his home race Sergio Perez reflects on a heart-breaking day for him in Mexico as he suffered a first-lap DNF in his home